Anthropic Pentagon ban unlawful, US judge rules

A US federal judge ruled that Trump administration sanctions against Anthropic were illegal and blocked federal agencies named in the lawsuit from enforcing an order to stop using the company's artificial intelligence tools.

Judge Rita Lin also overturned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's designation of Anthropic, the creator of the Claude AI models, as a “supply chain risk”. The ruling makes permanent a temporary suspension Lin ordered in March and takes effect immediately. The government may appeal.

Lin said in a 59-page decision that “The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics.” She found that the government had punished Anthropic for publicly criticising the Pentagon.

The dispute arose after Anthropic refused to allow the US military to use Claude for fully autonomous lethal weapons or for the mass surveillance of Americans. The supply chain risk designation had cancelled Anthropic's military contracts and barred other Pentagon contractors from using its technology.

An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed the ruling that the supply chain risk designation was unlawful and said the company remained focused on working with the government on AI for national security.

Anthropic's court victory is not complete. A separate Pentagon sanction imposed the same day, based on public procurement regulations, remains in effect pending another court ruling in Washington.