Federal judge blocks Trump's ban on Anthropic AI models, calls security risk label "Orwellian"

Anthropic has secured a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration in a federal court in San Francisco. Judge Rita Lin temporarily blocked President Trump's order banning federal agencies from using Anthropic's AI models, along with the Pentagon's classification of the company as a security risk.

Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government’s contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation. [...] Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government.

Rita F. Lin, United States District Judge

The dispute traces back to a failed $200 million contract. The Pentagon wanted unrestricted access to Anthropic's Claude models, but Anthropic insisted on guarantees that the models wouldn't be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth then classified Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" - making it the first U.S. company to receive that designation. A final ruling is still pending.