Judge rules Trump administration's ban on Anthropic was unlawful retaliation

A federal judge vacated government directives that barred use of Anthropic's AI technology, ruling the actions were illegal retaliation. The administration had ordered all agencies to stop using Anthropic products and banned defense contractors from business with the company after Anthropic refused to support lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance. The judge said national security is not a blank check to punish critics.

Judge Rita Lin's ruling in the Northern District of California vacated directives issued by President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that barred federal agencies and defense contractors from using Anthropic's Claude AI technology. The court found the government's national security designation was retaliatory, stemming from Anthropic's refusal to permit its models in lethal autonomous weapons or mass surveillance programs.

The government's risk assessment had claimed Anthropic possessed backdoor access to deployed systems, but defendants later conceded the company lacks such access. Anthropic filed suit in March, and while the DC Circuit denied an emergency stay, that court continues reviewing the case. Lin had previously issued a preliminary injunction on March 26.