ONE FEDERAL JUDGE CALLED IT 'UNLAWFUL RETALIATION' FOR ITS SAFETY STANCE. A 2-1 PANEL UPHELD THE BAN ANYWAY

The Pentagon fight began after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei publicly refused to loosen Claude's guardrails against use in autonomous weapons systems and domestic surveillance, restrictions the Pentagon wanted removed. President Trump ordered agencies to stop using Anthropic technology on February 27, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formalised the supply-chain risk determination on March 3.

A separate federal judge in California, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, vacated a parallel Pentagon designation in August, finding it was First Amendment retaliation for Anthropic's public safety stance. A D.C. Circuit panel nevertheless upheld the FASCSA designation 2-1 on September 25, rejecting arguments it was arbitrary and unconstitutional. Anthropic's rehearing petition says the panel overlooked evidence of retaliation and failed to address First Amendment and due process issues.