Another legal victory for Musk as DOJ moves to dismiss SpaceX lawsuit

• The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said it is dropping its lawsuit against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which accused the company of discriminating against noncitizens by refusing to hire refugees and asylum seekers. In a filing on Feb. 20, the DOJ requested a federal court lift a pause on the case, allowing the agency to file a dismissal with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be pursued in the future by the department.
• The lawsuit, brought by the Biden administration against SpaceX in 2023, accused the company of “routinely” discouraging refugees and those granted asylum from applying for jobs.
• Federal prosecutors claimed SpaceX often refused to hire or consider people for positions because of their citizenship status and falsely wrote in job postings it could only hire U.S. citizens.

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said it is dropping its lawsuit against Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The lawsuit alleged the company was discriminating against noncitizens by refusing to hire refugees and asylum seekers.

In a filing on Thursday, Feb. 20, the DOJ requested a federal court lift a pause on the case. This would allow the agency to file a dismissal with prejudice. When a case is dismissed with prejudice, that means it cannot be pursued in the future by the department.

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What did the lawsuit say?

The Biden administration brought the lawsuit against SpaceX forward in 2023. The filing accused the company of “routinely” discouraging refugees and those granted asylum from applying for jobs.

Federal prosecutors claimed SpaceX often refused to hire or consider people for positions because of their citizenship status. They also said they falsely wrote in job postings it could only hire U.S. citizens.

What laws was SpaceX accused of breaking?

The DOJ initially argued that SpaceX violated the Immigration and Nationality Act. Officials said this was because several of the positions posed, such as “welders, cooks, crane operators, baristas” and several analyst jobs, do not require U.S. citizenship to be hired.

SpaceX sued to block the lawsuit, causing the case to pause.

How did Elon Musk react?

Musk rejoiced in the DOJ’s move to dismiss the case on Friday, Feb. 21, calling the lawsuit “an insane case of lawfare against SpaceX.”

The DOJ hasn’t disclosed the reason it’s moving to dismiss the case, but it is the second legal victory for SpaceX in the last several days.

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On Tuesday, Feb. 18, a Texas environmental group dropped a separate lawsuit against the tech company over accusations of water pollution at SpaceX’s launch site in Brownsville.