A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia on Wednesday refused to block the Pentagon’s national security blacklisting of Anthropic, a decision that is now a victory for the Trump administration and comes after another appeals court reached a different conclusion in a separate lawsuit.
A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia on Wednesday refused to block the Pentagon’s national security blacklisting of Anthropic, a decision that is now a victory for the Trump administration and comes after another appeals court reached a different conclusion in a separate lawsuit.
Anthropic, the maker of the popular AI assistant Claude, is claiming that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority by designating the company a threat to the national security supply chain for refusing to lift certain guardrails on the use of its products. The designation blocks Anthropic from receiving Pentagon contracts and could lead to the company being blacklisted by all government agencies.
Anthropic management said this status could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business opportunities and reputational damage.
A panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District denied Anthropic's request to suspend the status while the case is pending. The decision is not a final verdict, Reuters reports .
An Anthropic spokeswoman said in a statement after the court's decision on Wednesday that the company is confident that the court will ultimately find the company's designation as a "threat to the supply chain" unlawful.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a social media post on Wednesday, welcomed the decision, calling it a victory for the Army's readiness.
The lawsuit is one of two Anthropic has filed over Hegseth’s unprecedented move. The minister’s decision follows Anthropic’s refusal to allow the military to use its Claude chatbot for surveillance or in autonomous weapons due to security and ethical concerns.
Hegset issued an order listing Anthropic under two different laws, and the company is challenging each of them separately.
On March 26, a federal judge in California blocked one of those orders, saying the Pentagon had allegedly illegally retaliated against Anthropic over its stance on artificial intelligence safety.
Anthropic's inclusion on this list marked the first time an American company has been publicly identified as a supply chain threat under little-known government procurement statutes designed to protect military systems from hostile sabotage or infiltration.
In its lawsuits, Anthropic alleges that the government violated its First Amendment right to free speech by imposing sanctions in response to its views on the safety of AI. The company also said it was not given an opportunity to appeal this status, which violated its Fifth Amendment right to due process.
The case in Washington concerns a law that could lead to the blacklist being expanded to the broader civilian government after an interagency review process.
