Judge blocks Trump Pentagon from labeling Anthropic AI a 'supply chain risk' after company sues administration

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin ruled in favor of AI company Anthropic, temporarily blocking the Pentagon from designating it as a supply chain risk and halting enforcement of Trump's directive ordering federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's Claude chatbot. Anthropic sued the Trump administration earlier in March, alleging an 'unprecedented and unlawful' attempt to punish the company for First Amendment-protected speech after it refused to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. Judge Lin found the 'broad punitive measures' taken by the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared arbitrary and capricious, noting Hegseth's use of a rare military authority previously directed at foreign adversaries could 'cripple Anthropic.' The company alleged the actions were part of an 'unlawful campaign of retaliation' for refusing to grant the Pentagon unrestricted access to its AI models for military applications.

"The 'broad punitive measures' taken against the AI company by the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared arbitrary, capricious and could 'cripple Anthropic.'" — U.S. District Judge Rita Lin's ruling in favor of Anthropic, finding the Pentagon's designation of the company as a supply chain risk lacked proper justification