A federal court in the United States ruled that the Pentagon's action in designating Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" was unlawful.
According to CNBC, Rita Lin, a United States district court judge, described the restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Defense on the AI company Anthropic and the company's Claude model as "unlawful and baseless." Under this ruling, certain federal entities were barred from enforcing Donald Trump's order to stop using Anthropic's tools.
Judge Lin wrote in her 59-page opinion: "A hollow invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics. Neither the Constitution nor the federal statute the defendants cite permits them to impose sweeping penalties principally based on Anthropic's criticism of government viewpoints."
An Anthropic spokesperson also welcomed the court's decision in an interview with CNBC, saying: "We welcome the court's ruling that this action in designating the company as a supply chain risk was unlawful. We remain focused on effective cooperation with the government to steward AI for national security so that all Americans can benefit from this technology."
How did the Anthropic-Pentagon dispute begin?
The dispute began in late February after the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth, the country's Secretary of Defense, pressured Anthropic to remove certain safeguards and protective mechanisms from its AI systems.
However, Dario Amodei, Anthropic's CEO, emphasized that the company would not allow its AI models to be used for widespread surveillance or the development of autonomous weapons.
In late February, Donald Trump ordered all U.S. government agencies to stop using Claude and other Anthropic services; an action that escalated the dispute between the parties.
The U.S. president announced on social media that federal agencies would have a six-month period to phase out Anthropic products. Subsequent negotiations between the parties also failed, and ultimately Anthropic became the first American company to be designated as a supply chain high-risk company.
Anthropic sued the White House
After announcing it would challenge the decision, Anthropic filed suit against the White House in two separate federal courts under two separate claims to overturn the ban imposed on it.
The ruling issued by Judge Lin constitutes a victory for Anthropic in one of those cases. However, until a decision is reached in the second case, the company remains listed among supply chain risk companies.
Even if Anthropic wins both cases, the Pentagon will not be legally required to resume cooperation with the company.