Anthropic is free to work with the federal government again after a California judge threw out the security label the Pentagon slapped on the company in February. The ruling wipes away the supply-chain risk designation that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attached to the Claude maker, along with a separate order that barred military contractors from doing business with it.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin found the government’s actions were retaliation for Anthropic’s refusal to let the Pentagon use its models for fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens. In a 59-page decision, she said the designation was unconstitutional, calling it arbitrary, capricious, and a violation of due process, and she ordered sanctions imposed by nine agencies, including Treasury, State, and Homeland Security, removed.
Lin pointed to inconsistencies in the government’s own behavior, such as Hegseth proposing the Defense Production Act for Anthropic, which would treat the company as essential to national security, and the Department of Defense still pursuing a contract while collaborating with Anthropic’s Mythos model on cybersecurity. She also noted the company has no backdoor access to its technology once handed to the military.
Anthropic said it welcomes the ruling and wants to keep working productively with the government, which is expected to appeal. The judge left the Pentagon free to pick other AI vendors if it chooses.
