Judge blocks Pentagon blacklist of Anthropic as supply chain risk

A federal judge in California on Thursday ruled that the Pentagon’s effort to blacklist Anthropic earlier this year violated the First Amendment and deprived the artificial intelligence company of its constitutionally protected liberties.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin vacated Anthropic’s supply chain risk designation and declared that the Department of Defense’s actions violated the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. Lin directed the DOD to rescind all guidance, directives, communications or instructions that it issued against the company.

“The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” the judge wrote in her ruling in San Francisco federal court.

In March, the DOD designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, meaning the company purportedly threatened U.S. national security, after negotiations about how the military could use its Claude AI models spiraled out of control. The designation barred defense contractors from using Anthropic’s technology in their work with the agency.

Anthropic sued the Trump administration in an effort to reverse its blacklisting. In addition to its lawsuit in California, the company filed a separate but related suit in Washington, D.C., and that case is still ongoing. The DOD relied on two distinct designations to justify its supply chain risk action, which means they have to be litigated in two separate courts. 

In a statement, Anthropic praised Lin’s ruling.

“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 AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology,” a spokesperson told CNBC.

The ruling clears a significant hurdle for Anthropic as it marches toward what’s expected to be a near-record IPO. While the company has shown no signs of a slowdown since the blacklisting, if it’s able to reestablish ties with the Pentagon, that could open additional business opportunities that had been cut off.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.