Anthropic is an artificial intelligence (AI) "public benefit corporation" based in San Francisco, and since President Trump resumed office in January of 2025, there has been considerable conflict around the use of Anthropic's systems, including its flagship Claude AI, most notably in the Department of War.
The Trump administration shut the doors on Anthropic, in part due to the Department of War's insistence on unrestricted use of the AI for military purposes. Anthropic wasn't keen on that, and so the Trump administration in time directed any and all federal agencies to cease using Anthropic's products, designating the company as a supply chain risk.
In March, Anthropic filed two lawsuit against the administration, and now we have a court's decision on one of them.
On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge in the Northern District of California made a ruling, writing that the Trump administration had acted illegally.
The Trump administration acted illegally when it labeled the artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic a security risk and barred the company from working with the U.S. government, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
Judge Rita Lin of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California wrote in her 59-page ruling that the government had unlawfully retaliated against Anthropic “for constitutionally protected expressive activities” after the A.I. company spoke out about how its technology should be used.
“The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” she wrote.
U.S. District Court Judge Lin is a Biden appointee and has been in her current role since 2023.
The NY Times story linked above also shared information on the other case:
The second lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is ongoing. The Trump administration could appeal Judge Lin’s ruling or wait for a decision in the second lawsuit before taking action, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Anthropic was quick to issue a statement:
In a statement, Anthropic said: “We welcome the court’s ruling that this supply chain risk designation was unlawful. We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness A.I. for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.”
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This whole issue appears to have exploded over a considerable contract (reports say $200 million) with the Department of War, for Anthropic to supply AI for classified systems in the Pentagon. Anthropic insisted that its software not be used for surveillance in the United States, nor for the operation of American weapons systems. The Department of War's stance is that private companies cannot and should not dictate government policy, especially where national security and classified systems are concerned. That doesn't seem an unreasonable expectation, and Anthropic possibly could have walked away.
Instead, this. While there has not yet been any reaction from the Department of War or the Trump administration in general, as mentioned above, they have a few options on whether to pursue an appeal because of the second lawsuit. Stay tuned.