Judge strikes down Anthropic blacklist, says government retaliated over Pentagon criticism

A federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration's decision to label Anthropic, an AI company, as a supply-chain risk, citing violation of the company's First Amendment rights. US District Judge Rita F. Lin found the government's designation to be unsupported by evidence of a genuine national-security threat. Instead, she determined that officials targeted Anthropic for publicly criticizing the Pentagon's plans for using its AI models.

The ruling mandates the government to withdraw guidance, directives, and other communications that initially classified Anthropic as a supply-chain risk. Anthropic had sued the administration in March, following unsuccessful talks with the Pentagon over military use of its AI models. The Pentagon sought an agreement permitting unrestricted military use of Anthropic's models, while Anthropic proposed limits for high-risk applications.

Government lawyers argued that the Pentagon had the right to select vendors deemed reliable, while Anthropic contended that undisclosed alterations to its models could impact military operations. The ruling's immediate impact on Anthropic included hundreds of millions of dollars in canceled, shortened, or delayed contracts, prompting competitors like OpenAI to potentially replace the company in federal government roles.

Despite continued government use of Anthropic's technology, Lin's decision undermined the Pentagon's claim of Anthropic being a national-security risk.