The Trump administration previously said the AI company was attempting to dictate military policy.
A federal appeals court in Washington on April 8 ruled that, pending a full judicial review, the Department of War may designate Anthropic as a supply-chain risk after the artificial intelligence (AI) company asked the court to block the designation.
The ruling appears to conflict with an order by a federal district court in California last month that temporarily halted the designation while litigation plays out.
The designation of the company, under a federal law designed to protect military systems from foreign sabotage, functions as a blacklist, preventing it from doing business with the federal government and its contractors.
The federal boycott of Anthropic directed federal agencies, contractors, and suppliers to end ties with the company. It was initiated after the company declined to change the user policy for its AI product, Claude, to remove what the company described as safety guardrails preventing its use for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon has said it does not intend to use Claude for those purposes.
On social media, President Donald Trump previously said Anthropic was attempting to “strong-arm” the federal government by dictating its military policy.
Late on April 8, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that it would not block the designation because Anthropic “has not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche hailed the new ruling on X as “a resounding victory for military readiness.”
“Our military needs full access to Anthropic’s models if its technology is integrated into our sensitive systems,” he said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
