A US judge ruled that the Pentagon's sanctions against Anthropic were illegal and permanently lifted the ban.

The Trump administration's confrontation with AI giant Anthropic has taken an unexpected legal turn.

On Thursday, local time, U.S. Federal Judge Rita Lin ruled that the Trump administration's designation of Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" was unconstitutional. This followed Anthropic's refusal to meet some of the Pentagon's requirements regarding the military use of AI and its public expression of concerns about AI security and surveillance.

The court then permanently banned relevant federal agencies from enforcing the order to stop using Anthropic products and overturned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's earlier assessment of "supply chain risks," with the ban taking effect immediately.

In her 59-page ruling, Rita Lin stated bluntly, "Empty pretexts citing national security are not blank checks for punishing and retaliating against government critics."

Origin of the conflict: Anthropic refuses to allow Claude military use.

The conflict stems from disagreements between Anthropic and the Pentagon over the military applications of AI.

Previously, the U.S. Department of Defense requested that Anthropic allow Claude to be used in a wider range of military scenarios, including surveillance and autonomous weapons-related projects. However, Anthropic rejected some of the requests, arguing that the current AI model is not yet reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons, and also opposed the use of AI for large-scale domestic surveillance.

Subsequently, the Pentagon designated Anthropic as a "supply chain risk," based on a government procurement regulation originally intended to prevent foreign companies from threatening U.S. military systems. Anthropic thus became the first U.S. company to receive such a public designation.

Trump also publicly criticized Anthropic, calling it a "far-left, awakening company" and an "out-of-control" enterprise.

Judicial Turning Point: Court Overturns "Supply Chain Risk" Determination

Anthropic filed a lawsuit on March 9th of this year, accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against the company’s freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment for its stance on AI safety and military applications.

At the same time, Anthropic also argued that the government did not give the company an opportunity to defend itself before making the "supply chain risk" determination, violating the due process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.

Rita Lin—a federal judge appointed by Biden—ultimately upheld Anthropic's core claims, finding the Pentagon's decision "illegal and baseless." She specifically pointed out the clear contradiction between the government's previous positive assessment of Claude's capabilities and security and its subsequent abrupt designation of Anthropic as a "supply chain risk."

The court had previously issued a temporary injunction in March of this year to prevent the government from implementing the relevant measures. This ruling further transforms the temporary measure into a permanent injunction.

The Justice Department maintains that the government's action stemmed from Anthropic's refusal to accept the contract terms, not from its AI security stance. The government also warned that if Anthropic continues to restrict the military's use of Claude, it could lead to uncertainty regarding the supply of AI capabilities during military operations, thereby impacting relevant military systems.

The repercussions continue: another lawsuit is still pending a ruling.

Although the ruling took effect immediately, the legal battle between Anthropic and the Trump administration is far from over.

Currently, Anthropic is also involved in another lawsuit in Washington, D.C., concerning a different "supply chain risk" determination made by the Pentagon. If this determination is ultimately upheld, Anthropic may be further excluded from ordinary civilian government contracts.

Therefore, whether the government appeals and how the second lawsuit is ultimately decided will determine whether Anthropic can fully resume its business dealings with the U.S. federal government.

The significance of this lawsuit extends beyond Anthropic alone. As the US government accelerates the integration of AI into military and governmental systems, the conflict between AI companies' security boundaries, commercial autonomy, and government procurement rights is gradually becoming a new round of policy maneuvering for the US AI industry.

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