Trump Administration’s Blacklisting of Anthropic Was Illegal, Judge Rules

The government retaliated against the A.I. start-up “for constitutionally protected expressive activities,” a federal judge in California wrote.

The Trump administration acted illegally when it labeled the artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic a security risk and barred the company from working with the U.S. government, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

Judge Rita Lin of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California wrote in her 59-page ruling that the government had unlawfully retaliated against Anthropic “for constitutionally protected expressive activities” after the A.I. company spoke out about how its technology should be used.

“The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” she wrote.

In a statement, Anthropic said: “We welcome the court’s ruling that this supply chain risk designation was unlawful. We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness A.I. for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.”

The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling caps the first of two lawsuits that Anthropic filed on March 9 in response to the Trump administration’s action. The second lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is ongoing. The Trump administration could appeal Judge Lin’s ruling or wait for a decision in the second lawsuit before taking action, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The California ruling is the latest chapter in the fight between the Trump administration and Anthropic, which is heading toward what may be the biggest-ever initial public offering.

The two sides came to blows at the start of the year over a $200 million contract to provide the Pentagon with A.I. technology on classified systems. Anthropic, which is based in San Francisco, insisted that its technology not be used in mass surveillance of Americans or for autonomous lethal weapons. The Pentagon said a private company could not establish policy for the U.S. government.

The two sides could not come to an agreement. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth then announced that Anthropic was a “supply chain risk,” a formal designation that had previously been used against foreign companies that the government deemed a national security risk. The designation meant no contractor or supplier that works with the military can do business with Anthropic.

Anthropic’s lawsuits argued that the legal statutes for labeling it a supply chain risk were narrow and did not apply to American firms. The company also said that the label was ideologically motivated to penalize Anthropic, and that the company’s First Amendment rights were being violated.

Before her ruling, Judge Lin had said the Pentagon’s argument that Anthropic’s public criticism of the government justified barring the A.I. company from federal work was “really troubling.” She also said she saw no evidence for the government’s claims that Anthropic could “flip some kind of kill switch” to potentially disable or alter its A.I. models during war.

In her final ruling on Thursday, Judge Lin said the Trump administration had backed away from many of its central claims that Anthropic could sabotage its own technology. She wrote that the government’s decision to bar Anthropic had come down to “a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government.”

She added that the Trump administration’s ongoing talks with Anthropic over its new A.I. model, Mythos, showed that the company was not a national threat.

In June, the Trump administration told Anthropic to restrict its clients’ access to Mythos, citing national security concerns. After two weeks of negotiations, the government allowed Anthropic to restore access to most clients after adding some safeguards.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick thanked Anthropic at the time, adding that the company had committed to working with the government on protocols for future releases of A.I. models.

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