A federal judge in California ruled Thursday that the Trump administration’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk was unlawful, finding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision constituted unlawful retaliation violating the First Amendment and was arbitrary and capricious. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin also found that Anthropic had been denied due process under the Fifth Amendment. The designation, issued earlier this year, had directed federal agencies to halt work with the AI company after Anthropic declined to loosen safety guardrails that would have permitted its models to be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of American citizens.
Lin wrote that government actions and statements indicated the designation was intended to publicly punish Anthropic for criticizing the administration, noting inconsistencies including Hegseth’s separate proposal to invoke the Defense Production Act for the company, continued Defense Department interest in contracting with Anthropic, and government collaboration with the company’s Mythos model on cybersecurity work. She added that Anthropic had no backdoor access to its technology once handed over to the department, and that national security justifications could not serve as unrestricted grounds for retaliating against critics.
An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed the ruling, saying the company remained focused on working productively with the government on national security applications. Anthropic had filed separate complaints in California and Washington, D.C., with the latter case still ongoing.
