Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter drama is finally headed to trial—but first came the harder task: finding jurors who don’t loathe the world’s richest man.
Nine jurors were seated Thursday in San Francisco federal court after the judge spent more than five hours slicing through a pool of 93 prospective jurors in the investor class action suit against Musk, according to reporting by Bloomberg Law.
The case centers on claims that Musk violated securities laws by publicly wavering over whether he would complete his 2022 purchase of Twitter—now X—allegedly driving down the company’s stock price in the process.
The trial, Pampena v. Musk, is expected to last about three weeks and could include testimony from Musk and former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, who is presiding over the case, acknowledged from the outset that finding jurors with no preconceptions about Musk would be nearly impossible.
“He’s like the president of the United States,” the judge said.
“As a public figure, he will excite strong views, and for him in particular, people have strong views.”
The real question, Breyer said, was whether those views could be set aside. That proved difficult.
Nine jurors, claiming they can be fair and impartial to Elon Musk and his controversial purchase of Twitter in 2022, were seated in San Francisco federal court, whittled down from a pool of 93. https://t.co/oatLzcyaKr
— Bloomberg Law (@BLaw) February 20, 2026
Nearly 40 prospective jurors were swiftly dismissed after admitting they could not put their biases aside.
One man wrote in his questionnaire that if this were a criminal trial, he would feel a “moral obligation” to convict Musk and send him to prison.
Another said she hated how Musk fired content moderators after taking over Twitter. She was dismissed despite claiming she could be fair.
One woman praised Musk as a “brilliant scientist” who had helped humanity—but conceded under questioning that she would be nervous if she were representing the investors and she ended up on the jury. She, too, was eliminated.
Musk’s attorney, Stephen Broome of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, argued the hostility in the jury pool was extraordinary.
“We have so many people in the venire who hate him so much that we’re becoming desensitized,” Broome said.
In most cases, he added, a juror admitting they “hated” the defendant would be immediately excused.
Breyer agreed that strong feelings were common—but reiterated that the legal standard isn’t affection. It’s impartiality.
The lawsuit stems from Musk’s rollercoaster bid for Twitter in 2022.
After becoming the company’s largest shareholder, Musk offered $54.20 per share in April—valuing the deal at $44 billion—before attempting to walk away months later.
Investors allege the public flip-flopping was designed to manipulate the stock price and gain leverage. Musk ultimately completed the acquisition in October 2022.
This isn’t his first courtroom rodeo. In 2023, a San Francisco jury cleared him of securities fraud claims tied to his infamous 2018 “funding secured” tweet about taking Tesla private at $420 per share.
But the jury selection drama this week underscored a bigger challenge: Musk is no ordinary corporate defendant. He’s a cultural lightning rod, and one of the most recognizable billionaires on the planet.
And in a city like San Francisco, that makes seating a neutral jury feel like threading a needle.
Opening statements begin March 2.
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