Grand Theft America / Receipt power-2026-06-15-067
The Justice Department asks a court to throw out the pollution suit against Musk's xAI
The Department of Justice told a federal court in Mississippi to dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI, arguing in a 33-page memo that the company's datacenter trains AI models critical to the economy and the Department of War and that the government can terminate such citizen lawsuits.
What happened
The suit, filed by the NAACP in April, alleges xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech set up dozens of methane-gas turbines to power its Southaven, Mississippi datacenter without air permits, and asks a judge to block their operation. The justice department wrote that Grok's continued availability was paramount to national security and that the military version of the chatbot had assisted US forces to deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours in the war against Iran. Adam Gustafson, a deputy assistant attorney general in the environment and natural resources division, said the department will not sit idly by while private organisations use environmental laws to undermine national security.
Why it matters
The department is not defending a federal action here but intervening to end a private citizens' suit against a private company, on the argument that the company's product is a national-security asset. Lawyers for the NAACP said all companies, even those contracting with the federal government, must follow environmental laws.
Receipt details
- Phase 1
- Build a surveillance machine
- Consolidate state capacity into a few private vendors
