The United States Department of Justice — the institution theoretically responsible for enforcing civil rights — has now used its Civil Rights Division to argue that a state law designed to prevent AI discrimination is itself discriminatory. The DOJ intervened on April 24, 2026, in a lawsuit originally filed by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI against the state of Colorado. The suit challenges Senate Bill 24-205, a law set to take effect June 30 that requires developers of “high-risk” AI systems used in housing, employment, education, healthcare, and financial services to take steps to prevent algorithmic discrimination.
The DOJ’s argument: the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause because it forces AI companies to consider race, sex, and religion when testing their products for discriminatory outcomes. In other words: requiring companies to check whether their AI discriminates — is discrimination.
The case: xAI Corp. v. Phil Weiser (Colorado Attorney General), U.S. District Court, Colorado
xAI’s lawsuit filed: April 9, 2026
DOJ intervention: April 24, 2026
The law: Colorado SB 24-205 — “Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence”
Signed into law: May 2024 by Governor Jared Polis (D)
Effective date: June 30, 2026
What the law does: Requires developers of high-risk AI systems used in housing, jobs, education, healthcare, and lending to take steps to prevent algorithmic discrimination
DOJ’s claim: The law violates the Equal Protection Clause by compelling companies to consider protected characteristics
DOJ division involved: Civil Rights Division (Harmeet Dhillon) + Civil Division (Brett Shumate)
Historic first: First DOJ intervention in any state-level AI regulation case
“Woke DEI Ideology”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon — the person nominally in charge of protecting Americans’ civil rights — released a statement that reads like it was drafted on a MAGA message board: “Laws that require AI companies to infect their products with woke DEI ideology are illegal.”
That’s the head of the Civil Rights Division. Calling anti-discrimination protections “woke DEI ideology.” In an official Department of Justice press release. About a law designed to prevent AI systems from discriminating against people when they apply for a job, a loan, or housing.
Brett Shumate, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, matched the energy: “America’s success in the AI race will depend on removing barriers to innovation and adoption across sectors. Laws like Colorado’s that force AI models to produce false results or promote ideological bias threaten national and economic security and must be stopped.”
Preventing discrimination in housing decisions is an “ideological bias.” Requiring AI companies to test whether their products treat people fairly is a “barrier to innovation.” This is what the DOJ sounds like when Elon Musk’s interests are at stake.
“Laws that require AI companies to infect their products with woke DEI ideology are illegal.”
— Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, April 24, 2026
What the Law Actually Does
Colorado SB 24-205, signed by Governor Polis in May 2024, applies to AI systems used in “high-risk” decisions — areas like hiring, housing, lending, education, and healthcare. It requires developers and deployers to disclose when AI is used in these decisions, conduct risk assessments, and take “reasonable care” to prevent algorithmic discrimination.
It does not ban AI. It does not require quotas. It does not mandate specific outcomes. It says: if you use an AI system to decide who gets a job, a loan, or an apartment, you need to check whether that system discriminates against people based on race, sex, age, or disability. If it does, you need to do something about it.
This is, in principle, what the Civil Rights Act already requires of human decision-makers. Colorado extended that principle to machines. The DOJ is arguing that extending anti-discrimination requirements to AI is itself unconstitutional.
Musk Filed First. Then the Government Showed Up to Help.
xAI filed its lawsuit against Colorado on April 9, 2026. Musk’s lawyers argued that the law is “unconstitutionally vague” and would force its AI chatbot, Grok, to “abandon its disinterested pursuit of truth and instead promote the State’s ideological views on various matters, racial justice in particular.”
Think about that sentence. Musk’s lawyers are arguing that requiring AI to not discriminate in housing decisions is the same as forcing it to “promote the State’s ideological views” on “racial justice.” The implication: racial justice is an ideology, not a right. And preventing discrimination is a political act, not a legal obligation.
Fifteen days after Musk filed his private lawsuit, the Department of Justice of the United States joined it. The federal government showed up to help Elon Musk’s company fight a state anti-discrimination law. This escalated what Reuters called “a single-company legal challenge into a direct confrontation between the Trump administration and Colorado over state-level AI regulation.”
The Pattern Is the Point
This is not an isolated event. It fits a pattern that has been building since January 2025:
• Musk ran DOGE, which gutted federal agencies and accessed Treasury payment systems
• DOJ dropped investigations into Musk’s companies when inspectors general looking into them were fired
• Now DOJ is intervening as Musk’s co-counsel against state civil rights laws
The line between the government and Musk’s business interests isn’t blurred. It’s gone. The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is being used to attack civil rights laws that inconvenience the president’s richest ally. The only “woke ideology” here is the belief that the Department of Justice should serve the American people instead of Elon Musk.
Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser declined to comment on the active litigation. State Representative Manny Rutinel, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the president was “attacking the law in a plot to benefit himself and Musk.”
The law takes effect June 30. A federal court will now decide whether preventing AI-powered discrimination violates the constitutional rights of the companies doing the discriminating. Welcome to 2026.
Sources
- Reuters (via KELO): DOJ intervened in xAI lawsuit; said law violates Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee; “The federal intervention escalates what had been a single-company legal challenge into a direct confrontation between the Trump administration and Colorado over state-level AI regulation.” April 24, 2026.
- Benzinga: DOJ joining xAI’s lawsuit; names Colorado AG Phil Weiser as defendant; Shumate: “Laws like Colorado’s that force AI models to produce false results or promote ideological bias threaten national and economic security”; law covers housing, education, employment. April 24, 2026.
- The Epoch Times: First time DOJ has stepped into a case challenging AI on a state level; Dhillon: “Laws that require AI companies to infect their products with woke DEI ideology are illegal”; law signed by Gov. Polis May 2024. April 25, 2026.
- The Colorado Sun: xAI filed suit April 9; Musk’s lawyers argued law forces Grok to “abandon its disinterested pursuit of truth”; SB 24-205 set to take effect June 30; Rep. Rutinel accused president of attacking law to benefit Musk. April 24, 2026.
- Reuters (via WABX): Full text of Dhillon’s statement; Colorado AG declined to comment; law imposes disclosure and risk-mitigation requirements on “high-risk” AI systems; xAI claimed First Amendment violation. April 24, 2026.