A Texas federal court blocked administrative proceedings initiated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) against SpaceX concerning alleged discriminatory employment practices. The decision announced this Wednesday suspends the DOJ’s proceedings until the resolution of a SpaceX lawsuit filed in September.
In an August complaint, the DOJ charged SpaceX with violation of Section 1324b of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), accusing the company of discrimination against refugees and asylees in its hiring practices. It claimed that SpaceX has been discriminating for several years by only offering jobs to permanent US residents and citizens. On the flip side, SpaceX defended its hiring procedures by attributing it to the required compliance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), stating that it could not hire individuals without at least permanent residency. The DOJ refuted this by highlighting that asylees and refugees are deemed US persons under ITAR, implying that SpaceX did not apply hiring restrictions accurately.
Following the accusations, SpaceX updated its hiring requirements to incorporate asylees and refugees explicitly under ITAR:
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
US District Judge Rolando Olvera’s recent decision stems from a procedural issue in the DOJ’s initial August complaint against SpaceX. The judge reasoned that Section 1324b lets DOJ administrative judges make final decisions without the US Attorney General’s review. However, administrative judges, unlike their judicial counterparts, function within the executive branch of the US government as opposed to the judicial branch. The US Constitution mandates that ‘inferior officers’—including DOJ administrative judges—’must be ‘directed and supervised’ by the Attorney General. This principle goes against the DOJ’s assertion that the lawsuit need not be reviewed by the US Attorney General, rendering the complaint unconstitutional and hence, infeasible.
The DOJ had initially begun its investigation into SpaceX’s employment practices in 2021. This came after a non-citizen lodged a complaint with the Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) sector of the DOJ under the INA, alleging that he had been rejected because of his citizenship status. In August, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the company’s policy on Twitter, asserting that it will not hire anyone without permanent US residency.