Anthropic blacklisting is illegal

Judge rules Trump administration’s Anthropic blacklisting is illegal

California-based U.S. District Judge Rita Lin said that the Trump administration’s actions amounted to “unlawful retaliation” in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments.

By Christine Mui

A federal judge in California Thursday found that Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth broke the law when he designated Anthropic a supply chain risk to national security.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, who ruled in March to pause the unprecedented label, wrote that the Trump administration’s actions amounted to “unlawful retaliation” in violation of the First Amendment and that Anthropic was denied due process as required under the Fifth Amendment.

“Though the Department of War is undisputedly free to select the AI vendor of its choice, the evidence demonstrates that the broad measures imposed on Anthropic were illegal and baseless,” she said in a 59-page order that largely ruled in Anthropic’s favor.

The company sued the government in March, alleging directives and public disparagement by Trump administration officials violated its free speech and due process rights, among a range of other claims.

Those directives, including the supply chain risk designation, were issued after Anthropic asserted that its technology should not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance. Trump administration officials have argued the U.S. military must have unrestricted access to artificial intelligence for “all lawful purposes.”

In her order, Lin also found that the Department of Defense violated the Administrative Procedure Act and formally overturned Hegseth’s directive that all other Pentagon contractors stop doing business with Anthropic.

“We welcome the court’s ruling that this supply chain risk designation was unlawful,” an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. “We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.”

The Pentagon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment to the ruling.

A second lawsuit that Anthropic filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remains ongoing.