A federal judge has granted the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to pause a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX. The lawsuit claims that SpaceX discriminated against certain immigrants by refusing to hire them. However, SpaceX argues that the DOJ lacks the power to pursue these claims.
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The DOJ alleges that SpaceX discouraged asylum recipients and refugees from applying for jobs and refused to consider or hire them between 2018 and 2022. Unsurprisingly, SpaceX denies any wrongdoing and pointed to federal export control laws that require the company to employ only U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. This is not the first time the case has been paused. In fact, in 2023, a different judge blocked the DOJ from pursuing the case.
However, the current pause in the lawsuit comes as President Donald Trump’s administration takes office and as Elon Musk, who is a top adviser to Trump, is leading a commission to identify waste and inefficiency in the federal government. Indeed, Musk has been critical about the powers that federal agencies have, and SpaceX is challenging the structure of the National Labor Relations Board in a pair of lawsuits.
Is Tesla Stock a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Although retail investors cannot invest in SpaceX or most of Musk’s ventures, they can invest in his most popular company, EV maker Tesla (TSLA). When turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 12 Buys, 11 Holds, and nine Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 124% rally in its share price over the past year, the average Tesla price target of $339.06 per share implies 17% downside risk.
