Anthropic gets its first court win over the Pentagon’s supply chain risk label

A federal judge in California ruled on Thursday evening that the Trump administration’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk was illegal. 

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin said in her ruling that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s labeling of Anthropic as a risk to national security signified “unlawful retaliation” in violation of the First Amendment, and said the decision was “arbitrary and capricious.” Lin also said Anthropic was denied due process, as required under the Fifth Amendment. 

Earlier this year, Hegseth and President Donald Trump labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk and  ordered all federal agencies, even those outside of defense, to stop working with the Claude maker.

The dispute stemmed from Anthropic setting hard lines on certain safety guardrails that would allow the Pentagon to use its models for fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens. The Pentagon denied that it would use Anthropic models for anything but lawful purposes, and alleged that Anthropic could try to control the military’s use of the models it bought and paid for. 

In her ruling, Lin said that the government’s “words and deeds confirm that the challenged actions were based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government.”