Judge questions Pentagon's "troubling" Anthropic actions

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin on Tuesday called the Pentagon's treatment of Anthropic "troubling," questioning whether President Trump's ban on the company, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's requirement that Pentagon contractors sever ties with it, and its designation as a supply chain risk are actually tailored to national security concerns. Lin suggested the Pentagon could simply stop using Anthropic's Claude AI model if the worry is about operational chain-of-command integrity, rather than imposing sweeping restrictions on the company's commercial partnerships. Anthropic is seeking to pause the supply-chain-risk designation and restore business conditions to February 26, before Trump and Hegseth announced the blacklist on social media, arguing the actions are causing reputational damage and forcing commercial partners to reconsider contracts. The Pentagon's lawyer countered that the social media posts are not legally binding and that Anthropic's request amounts to an "operational veto" of Pentagon decision-making. A ruling is expected by March 26, though the court is not bound by that deadline.