The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is joining xAI’s lawsuit against the state of Colorado, seeking to stop the state from enforcing a law that would impose significant operational demands on companies building AI products.

The lawsuit names Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and asks the court to block a 2024 statute focused on “high-risk” AI uses. The law covers systems in areas such as housing, education, and employment, and requires developers to take steps to prevent “algorithm-driven discrimination.” 

The DOJ argues that the Colorado law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by compelling AI developers and deployers to consider race, sex, and religion to “correct” statistically disparate impacts.

“The Colorado attorney general’s office has no comment on this active litigation,” a spokesperson for the office told Benzinga. The DOJ, and xAI were also contacted for comment.

“America’s success in the AI race will depend on removing barriers to innovation and adoption across sectors,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “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.”

The law is set to take effect on June 30, 2026. The lawsuit further states that there is no evidence of past intentional discrimination by the state of Colorado or by private AI developers. 

“Thus, Colorado’s efforts to prevent discrimination against groups that, as a practical matter, may never have suffered from discrimination in AI, suggest that perhaps [its] purpose was not in fact to remedy past discrimination,” the lawsuit states.

As a result, the U.S. is requesting that the court declare the statute violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is invalid. 

The DOJ is also seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction that would prohibit the defendant and his successors from enforcing the law, as well as any other relief the court deems appropriate.

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