Court Rejects Trump Administration's Attempt to Withdraw xAI Memphis Data Center Pollution Lawsuit
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The NAACP filed a citizen lawsuit over pollution from SpaceXAI's (the name following the xAI merger) data center in Memphis. In an attempt to end the lawsuit, the Trump administration sought to have the EPA administrator unilaterally withdraw the citizen suit. On October 22, 2026, according to Ars Technica, U.S. federal judge Debra Brown ruled that nothing in the Clean Air Act allows the EPA administrator to unilaterally withdraw a citizen lawsuit, so the Trump administration's attempt to end the NAACP pollution lawsuit through this route failed. The lawsuit remains in effect following the court ruling, and the NAACP's case can proceed.
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- Ars Technica · AIJudge rejects Trump’s wild claim EPA can dismiss data center pollution lawsuits
US federal judge Debra Brown ruled that the Clean Air Act contains no provision allowing the EPA administrator to unilaterally dismiss citizen lawsuits, so the Trump administration's attempt to end the NAACP's data center pollution lawsuit against SpaceXAI (the name after the xAI merger) failed.
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