A US judge on Thursday blocked an administrative lawsuit in which SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace company, is accused by the State Department in Washington of discriminating against refugees, Reuters reported.

Judge Rolando Olvera of Brownsville, Texas, said in a ruling released Wednesday night that the administrative law judges handling the case at the Justice Department were not appointed by law.

Olvera suspended the case against SpaceX in August pending resolution of a separate lawsuit filed by the company against the US government, in which it claims the Justice Department’s actions violate the Constitution.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that from at least 2018 to 2022, SpaceX routinely turned away U.S.-based asylum seekers and refugees from applying for jobs at the companies, and refused to even consider them for hiring those who did.

Elon Musk has been hit with a SpaceX discrimination lawsuit

The U.S. government alleges that SpaceX falsely stated in both its job postings and public releases that it could only hire U.S. citizens or permanent residents, known in the U.S. as “green card holders.”

In this regard, the State Department also refers to a June 2020 post by Elon Musk on “X,” formerly Twitter, in which he stated that:

“US law provides [să ai] at least a green card to work at SpaceX because rockets are advanced weapons technology.”

SpaceX denies the allegations against itself and says it has employed hundreds of people who are not citizens of the United States.

SpaceX, in its own lawsuit against the government, argues that State Department administrative law judges are appointed by the U.S. attorney general, but have powers that can only be exercised by officials directly appointed by the U.S. president.

Judge Olvera agreed with that argument on Wednesday and blocked the lawsuit against SpaceX until a higher court rules on the State Department’s allegations.