US judge rules Trump administration sanctions against Anthropic illegal

The judge found that the government punished Anthropic in a dispute over the military use of its technology. Anthropic had previously angered Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems. In response, Trump ordered all government agencies to stop using Anthropic's products, and Hegseth labeled the company a "supply chain risk."

Judge Rita Lin stated in her decision that "The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics." She barred federal agencies from enforcing Trump's order and overturned Hegseth's "supply chain risk" designation. This ruling makes permanent a temporary suspension of sanctions ordered in March.

An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed the court's decision, stating the company remains focused on working with the government to use AI for national security. The conflict began when Anthropic refused to allow the US military to use its Claude AI models for fully autonomous lethal weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. Trump had criticized the company in a social media post, calling it "a radical left, woke company."

The judge noted that the sanctions were based on a desire to make a public example of Anthropic for its "arrogance" in criticizing the government, rather th