Judge questions Pentagon's "troubling" Anthropic actions
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A federal judge on Tuesday called the Pentagon's treatment of Anthropic "troubling" as the AI company urged the court to pause the Trump administration's designation of the company as a supply chain risk.
Why it matters: The Trump administration is looking to remove Claude from federal agencies and prevent companies that do business with the Pentagon from working with the AI lab.
- Agencies have started to do so, and Anthropic says some companies are rethinking contracts.
What they're saying: "I don't know if it's murder, but it looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic," said U.S. District Judge Rita Lin.
- Lin referred to three Trump administration actions: President Trump's ban on Anthropic, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's requirement that Pentagon contractors cut commercial ties with the company, and its designation as a supply chain risk.
- "What is troubling to me about these three actions is that they don't really seem to be tailored to the stated national security concern. If the worry is about the integrity of the operational chain of command, [the Pentagon] could just stop using Claude," she said.
Driving the news: Anthropic is seeking to pause the designation, block its enforcement by federal agencies, and roll back actions already taken.
- Anthropic argues that the court should restore the status quo from before the designation occurred, while the case — including First Amendment and procurement law claims — is litigated.
- The company says that would help ease ongoing reputational damage and provide commercial partners more certainty.
Friction point: Essentially, the company argues, there should be a return to the status quo as of Feb. 26, before Trump and Hegseth said on social media that Anthropic would "immediately" be blacklisted.
- The Pentagon's lawyer argued that the social media posts are not legally binding.
- The judge said she found that argument "pretty surprising ... obviously the statement is front and center in this lawsuit."
The Pentagon argues in court filings that Anthropic has asked for an "operational veto" of the Pentagon's decision-making and that Anthropic has full control over Claude's availability and performance.
- Department officials say that would be inappropriate and dangerous in sensitive operations.
- Anthropic denies it has operational control over the model once deployed in classified settings.
What's next: Anthropic asked for a decision by March 26, but the court is not bound by that date.
Editor's note: This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
