In 2023, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice sued Elon Musk’s SpaceX for discrimination, charging that the company did not hire people it wasn’t legally allowed to hire.
Yes, really. That case is now being dropped; the new Trump administration’s Department of Justice has filed a motion to have the case dismissed with prejudice.
The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it would dismiss a case against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, in which the rocket company had been accused of discriminating against people based on their citizenship status.
In an unopposed motion filed with the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas, the Justice Department said it intended to file a notice of dismissal with prejudice, which means prosecutors would not be able to file these charges again.
The motion did not say why the case was being dropped.
The case being dropped may have something to do with SpaceX’s purpose – they make rocket boosters, which are, essentially, missiles. This is a technology that could easily be used to make, say, an intercontinental ballistic missile. Seems like you would want to be cautious about who you hire to build those, yes? Listen to Elon Musk explaining precisely that:
“SpaceX was told for many years that we could not hire anyone who was not a permanent resident of the U.S., or I would go to prison.
Then, a few years ago, the Biden administration decided to sue SpaceX for failing to hire asylum seekers.” pic.twitter.com/FaUkdLoYn6
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) July 23, 2024
Elon Musk says in part:
For example, some lawfare that was leveled against SpaceX…we were told for many years that we could not hire anyone who was not a permanent resident. So SpaceX develops advanced rocket technology, which is considered an advanced weapons technology. Because it’s a core part of, like intercontinental ballistic missiles. So there are only about a handful of things in the sort of highest level of weapon technology, and rocket technology is one of those. Because we deliver a payload and basically, bomb anywhere on from anywhere on earth, from anywhere on earth, so I was told, according to certain terms by the government, that if we hired anyone who is not a permanent resident of the United States, have either a green card or a citizen, that I would go to prison.
That would seem to be a significant contradiction. But the Biden DOJ didn’t see it that way, according to the NY Times story linked above:
SpaceX did not fairly consider job applications from refugees and people who have been granted asylum in the United States, the department said. SpaceX also discouraged refugees and asylees from applying for jobs, refused to hire them even when they were qualified, and rejected them repeatedly because of their citizenship status, the department said.
Mr. Musk had said at the time that SpaceX was told it could not hire anyone who was not a citizen or permanent resident of the United States because of export control laws. “This is yet another case of weaponization of the DOJ for political purposes,” he had posted on X.
He was right. Mr. Musk also described this issue while speaking at CPAC 2025, which I saw in person, and his description of this case was, one might say, animated.
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Elections have consequences. Sometimes they are bad – sometimes they are good. In this case, a rather egregious lawfare case against a man who is breaking every expectation in technology in a wide variety of areas drew the ire of the Biden administration because he was seen as an ally of (then) former President Donald Trump. It was an unmistakable case of weaponization of the justice system. But there’s a new president now, and he and his DOJ know the malodorous, assimilated digestive residue of a horse when they smell it. So, this stupid, malicious case against SpaceX is going away, and that’s an unalloyed good thing.
