Federal Judge Denies Motion by xAI to Dismiss NAACP Lawsuit Against Data Center

A federal judge has denied a motion by Elon Musk’s xAI company to dismiss the NAACP’s lawsuit against its data center in Mississippi.

On October 30, Chief U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown ruled that the NAACP’s lawsuit against xAI and its Mississippi data center, Colossus, could proceed.

In April, the NAACP filed a complaint against xAI — owned by SpaceX — for violating the Clean Air Act by constructing hazardous gas plants without complying with national emission standards or obtaining permits.

In June, xAI filed a motion to dismiss the NAACP’s complaint, claiming that its gas turbines were “mobile sources,” rather than stationary, and that this exempted them from air quality regulations — despite the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had stated the opposite in January. xAI also argued that the NAACP lacked a cause of action to sue under the Clean Air Act, claiming that they could not prove direct personal injury.

But on October 30, Brown rejected xAI’s arguments and denied the company’s motion to dismiss, allowing the NAACP’s lawsuit to proceed.

Two weeks prior, on October 19, Brown also denied a motion by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss the lawsuit.

In June, the DOJ had intervened in the case and filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the data center is vital to issues of national security — and admitting that the U.S. military had used xAI’s Grok Gov Model in its military operations in Iran. The DOJ claimed that the NAACP’s attempt to prevent Musk’s company from running natural gas turbines in Mississippi “threatens American national, economic, and energy security” as the company “supports the Department of War’s military operations.” Cameron Stanley, the Department of Defense’s chief digital and AI officer, stated that the Pentagon “relies on derivatives of xAI’s commercial offerings known as the Grok Gov Model,” which it deploys in “Maven Smart Systems (MSS)” for both “targeting” and “intelligence.”

In her ruling against the DOJ’s motion to dismiss, Brown stated that “the Court does not consider the United States’ national security concerns relevant” to the case.

The NAACP has called the ruling an “important victory.”

“The courts have repeatedly rejected attempts by xAI and the DOJ to dismiss the NAACP’s Clean Air Act case, affirming our right to pursue justice for communities impacted by pollution,” said Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice. “Now that the motion to dismiss has been denied, we look forward to continuing to defend our position in court.”

In a statement following the ruling against the DOJ, Laura Thoms of Earthjustice stated that the Trump administration “has gone out of its way to shield Elon Musk’s company, xAI, from liability and to deny local communities their right to protect themselves against illegal pollution.”