A federal judge in California ruled Thursday night that the Trump administration’s artificial designation as a supply chain risk was illegal.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s designation of humans as a risk to national security amounted to “unlawful retaliation” in violation of the First Amendment and called the decision “arbitrary and capricious.” Lin also said Anthropic was denied due process, as required by the Fifth Amendment.
Earlier this year, Hegseth and President Donald Trump identified Anthropic as a supply chain risk and ordered all federal agencies, including non-defense agencies, to stop working with the Claude manufacturer.
The controversy stems from Anthropic’s hardline on certain safety guardrails to allow the Pentagon to use its models for fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens. The Pentagon has denied that it intends to use Anthropic’s models for anything other than legitimate purposes, arguing that Anthropic may seek to control the military’s use of the models it buys and pays for.
Lin said in his ruling that the government’s “words and actions confirm that the challenged actions were based on Antropic’s desire to make a public example of the ‘arrogance'” of criticizing the government.
She pointed to a disconnect between the supply chain label and other government actions, such as Mr. Hegseth’s proposal to extend the Defense Production Act to humanity, saying, “This would mean that companies are essential to national security, rather than a threat to national security.” He also noted that the Department of Defense continues to pursue contracts with the company and that the government is working with the company’s new model, Mythos, on cybersecurity.
Lin also said it was clear that Anthropic would have “no doubt” backdoor access to its technology once it turned it over to the Pentagon.
“While there is no dispute that the Department of the Army is free to choose its AI vendors, the evidence demonstrates that the broad measures imposed on Anthropic are unlawful and unfounded,” Lin wrote. “The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” she added.
“We welcome the court’s ruling that this supply chain risk designation is unlawful,” an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement shared with TechCrunch. “We remain focused on working productively with the government to leverage AI for national security so that all Americans can benefit from this technology.”
In March, Anthropic filed two complaints against the Department of Defense in California and Washington, DC. The DC lawsuit is still ongoing.
TechCrunch has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment.
If you make a purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect editorial independence.
