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Anthropic has won an early round in its legal battle against the Trump administration, after a federal judge awarded the artificial intelligence company an injunction against the government’s order that labelled it a “supply chain risk”.
US President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly declared in February that it was cutting ties with Anthropic after it refused to allow unrestricted military use of its Claude AI model. The restrictions include the use of lethal autonomous weapons without human oversight and mass surveillance of Americans.
In response, the US government labelled Anthropic a “supply chain risk to national security” and ordered federal agents to stop using Claude.
Judge Rita F. Lin of the Northern District of California said at the outset of the hearing that “it looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic,” “cripple Anthropic” and “chill public debate” because the company was concerned over how the US Department of Defence was using its technology.
“This appears to be classic First Amendment retaliation,” she added.
Lin said the “broad punitive measures” taken against the AI company by the Trump administration and Hegseth appeared arbitrary, capricious and could “cripple Anthropic,” particularly Hegseth’s use of a rare military authority that’s previously been directed at foreign adversaries.
“Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the US for expressing disagreement with the government,” Lin wrote.
Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the government over its designation as a supply chain risk. One is a case for reconsideration of the supply chain risk, and the other alleges the Trump administration violated the company’s First Amendment right to speech.
The order now means that Anthropic’s technology will continue to be used in the government and by outside companies working with the Department of War until the lawsuit is resolved.
Euronews Next has reached out to Anthropic for comment.