Anthropic Just Beat The Pentagon In Court. A Judge Said National Security Was Used To Punish Its AI Rules.

A federal judge has prevented the Pentagon from blacklisting Anthropic as a national-security supply-chain risk, ruling that the government unlawfully retaliated against the AI company after it refused to loosen restrictions on how its Claude models could be used by the military.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin determined that the Pentagon's actions violated Anthropic's First Amendment rights and that the company was denied the procedural protections required under the Fifth Amendment, Reuters reported.

Lin also found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to designate Anthropic a supply-chain risk violated the governing law and was arbitrary and capricious. She wrote that the government's invocation of national security could not be used as a punishment against a company for its position on AI policy.

"The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics," Lin wrote.

The dispute began in February after the Pentagon demanded that Anthropic permit Claude to be used for all lawful military purposes. Anthropic refused to remove restrictions on using its technology for mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons. The company has argued that current AI systems are not reliable enough for autonomous weapons and that domestic surveillance could violate civil rights.

The Pentagon responded by designating Anthropic a supply-chain risk, a classification intended to protect military systems from companies considered vulnerable to infiltration or sabotage by foreign adversaries. The designation also blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts. The Associated Press reported that the government accused Anthropic of threatening national security after the company declined to allow unrestricted military use of its technology.

The Justice Department argued that Anthropic's contractual restrictions, rather than the company's views on AI safety, drove the Pentagon's decision. Government lawyers said the restrictions could create uncertainty over how Claude could be used during military operations.

Lin rejected the government's position, finding that the record did not establish a valid basis for the supply-chain designation. She also found that Anthropic had not been given the required opportunity to challenge the designation before it took effect.

The ruling vacates the Pentagon's blacklisting decision and blocks the government from enforcing the restrictions challenged by Anthropic. The government is expected to appeal, according to Associated Press.

The case is not the only legal fight between Anthropic and the federal government. The company has a separate lawsuit pending in Washington, D.C., involving another Pentagon supply-chain designation that could affect its eligibility for civilian government contracts, Reuters reported.

Anthropic welcomed the ruling and said it remained willing to work with the government on national-security applications of AI.

"We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology," the company said in a statement.