Anthropic urges court in Washington, D.C. to rehear appeal of Pentagon blacklisting
Quick Look
Anthropic has petitioned a federal court in Washington, D.C. to rehear its appeal against the Pentagon's blacklisting of its Claude AI models, arguing the designation as a national-security supply chain risk was retaliatory for the company's public stance on AI safety and violated its First Amendment rights.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Anthropic previously partnered with U.S. agencies including the DOD and signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon in July 2025, but negotiations over deploying Claude models on the DOD's GenAI.mil platform collapsed in September 2025, leading to the blacklisting and subsequent legal challenges.
Anthropic is asking a federal court in Washington, D.C. to rehear its appeal in a case concerning the Pentagon's blacklisting of the company's AI models.
"The Secretary of War branded Anthropic — an American AI company whose models help defend the nation— a national-security 'supply chain risk' because it declined to permit its models to be used for mass surveillance of Americans or lethal autonomous warfare and publicly explained those AI-safety commitments," Anthropic attorneys wrote in the petition filed on Tuesday. "A divided panel upheld that extraordinary designation."
The Defense Department, led by Pete Hegseth, applied the supply chain risk label in March, a move that blocked defense contractors from using the company's technology in their work with the agency. That came after a breakdown in negotiations about how the military could use Anthropic's Claude AI models.
Anthropic sued the Trump administration in an effort to undo that action. In September, the D.C. Circuit upheld the Pentagon's blacklisting. The 2-1 decision rejected Anthropic's argument that the Department of Defense's ban on its Claude models was arbitrary, unauthorized and unconstitutional.
Anthropic's attorneys wrote in the Tuesday filing that the court ignored "straightforward evidence the designation was retaliation for Anthropic's speech about AI safety."
In a parallel case, a San Francisco federal judge ruled in August that the DOD had violated Anthropic's First Amendment rights, and that its supply chain risk designation amounted to illegal retaliation.
Before the clash between the two sides spilled into the public's view earlier this year, Anthropic served as an early partner across many U.S. agencies, including the DOD. Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon in July of 2025, but as the company began negotiating Claude's deployment on the DOD's GenAI.mil AI platform that September, talks collapsed.
A representative from Anthropic declined to comment beyond the filing. A Pentagon spokesperson told CNBC in an email that the agency doesn't comment on pending or ongoing litigation.
— CNBC's Ashley Capoot contributed to this report.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The D.C. Circuit will deny Anthropic's petition for rehearing, upholding the Pentagon's blacklisting designation.
Likely · Within weeks
The San Francisco federal court's First Amendment ruling will be appealed by the Department of Defense.
Very likely · Within months
Open Questions
- Will the D.C. Circuit grant Anthropic's rehearing request?
- How might conflicting rulings between the D.C. Circuit and San Francisco federal court be resolved?
- What specific AI safety commitments did Anthropic refuse to compromise on during negotiations with the DOD?
