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

A federal judge in California ruled Thursday evening that the Trump administration’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk was illegal, marking the company’s first court victory against the Pentagon. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s label amounted to “unlawful retaliation” violating the First Amendment, and called the decision “arbitrary and capricious.” Lin also said Anthropic was denied due process under the Fifth Amendment.

Earlier this year, Hegseth and President Donald Trump labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk, ordering all federal agencies, including those outside defense, to stop working with the maker of the Claude model. The dispute began when Anthropic set strict safety guardrails that would prevent the Pentagon from using its models for fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens. The Pentagon denied any intention to use Anthropic for unlawful purposes and argued Anthropic could not control the military’s use of models it had purchased.

In her ruling, Lin said the government’s actions showed a desire to make a public example of Anthropic for criticizing the government. She noted a contradiction in the supply chain label, pointing to Hegseth’s proposal to apply the Defense Production Act to Anthropic, which would treat the company as essential to national security, not a threat. She also observed that the Department of Defense continued pursuing a contract with Anthropic and collaborated with the company on its new model, Mythos, for cybersecurity projects.

Lin also said Anthropic “undisputedly lacks” any backdoor access to its technology once provided to the DOD. She wrote that while the Department of War can freely choose its AI vendor, the evidence showed the broad measures against Anthropic were illegal and baseless. She added that invoking national security is not a blank check to punish government critics.

An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed the ruling, saying the company remains focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for national security. Anthropic filed two complaints against the DOD in March, one in California and one in Washington, D.C. The D.C. case remains ongoing.

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