Why Did a Judge Just Kill the Trump Administration's Anthropic Ban?

Key Takeaways

• Judge Rita Lin ruled Aug. 27 that Pentagon’s Anthropic blacklist violated the First Amendment.
• Her 59-page order permanently blocks the Trump administration from enforcing the ban.
• Anthropic’s D.C. Circuit appeal, tied to Trump’s Feb. 27 order, remains unresolved.

A Blunt Rebuke From the Bench

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin of the Northern District of California handed down a permanent injunction against the Department of Defense late Thursday, closing out a year-long fight over Anthropic’s “supply chain risk” designation. Her 59-page order found the label amounted to unlawful retaliation against the company for publicly criticizing the government’s contracting terms.

Lin wrote the Pentagon’s measures were rooted in a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its “arrogance” in pushing back on the administration, rather than any real evidence the firm intended to sabotage its own technology. She added:

“The undisputed ​record shows that ​the challenged actions constituted ⁠unlawful retaliation in ​violation of the ​First Amendment, and that Anthropic was denied the pre-deprivation ​process required under ​the Fifth Amendment.”

Elsewhere in the order, Lin wrote that the empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics, language that will likely echo through the company’s other pending case.