Judge Rita Faye Lin of the Northern District of California ruled that Anthropic's blacklisting by the Pentagon was unlawful. According to the nearly 60-page ruling, the sanctions imposed in February by the Trump administration constituted retaliation in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments. The move followed the company's refusal to allow its Claude models to be used for autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.
Anthropic's blacklisting by the Pentagon was unlawful. This was established by Judge Rita Faye Lin, of the Court for the Northern District of California, who agreed with the company producing the Claude artificial intelligence models. In a nearly 60-page ruling, the judge called the restriction "arbitrary and capricious", nullifying the sanctions imposed in February by the Trump administration and prohibiting federal agencies from following the president's order to cease use of the company's tools.
"Illegitimate retaliation"
In the decision, Lin argues that the record shows that the contested measures constituted retaliation in violation of the First Amendment, and that Anthropic was denied Fifth Amendment rights prior to the enforcement of the restraining order. The judge, appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, also highlighted how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to classify the company as a risk to the supply chain violated the current regulatory framework. “The unfounded appeal of national security does not constitute a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” he wrote.
The classification as "risk"
The ruling reversed Hegseth's decision to give Anthropic "supply chain risk" status, a designation previously reserved for foreign companies and applied for the first time to a U.S. company. The label, required by a public procurement rule designed to protect military systems from external sabotage, had excluded the company from some contracts with the Defense. According to company leaders, the measure could have cost billions of dollars in lost business and reputational damage. The ruling makes the temporary suspension of sanctions already established in March definitive and came into force immediately. The government can still appeal.
The issue of autonomous weapons
The litigation arose after Anthropic refused to allow the US military to use Claude for fully autonomous lethal weapons or mass surveillance of American citizens. The company argues that AI models are not yet reliable enough to be used in autonomous weapons systems and that it opposes domestic surveillance as harmful to rights. The Pentagon, for its part, believes that private companies should not be able to limit military action. The Justice Department argued that the classification resulted from the company's refusal to accept certain contractual terms, and not from its positions on AI safety.
The company's reaction
“We welcome the court's decision that the supply chain risk classification was unlawful,” an Anthropic spokesperson said, adding that the company “remains focused on productively working with the government to leverage AI for national security purposes, so that all Americans can benefit from this technology.” The matter is not over: the company has a second lawsuit pending in Washington, relating to a separate Pentagon provision that could lead to its exclusion from civil government contracts as well.
