Federal Judge Rules Pentagon's Anthropic Blacklist Illegal, Cites First Amendment Retaliation

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin ruled Thursday that the Pentagon's designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk was unlawful, calling the government's actions First Amendment retaliation against a critic. The 59-page order says officials sought to 'make a public example out of Anthropic' after CEO Dario Amodei refused unrestricted military use of Claude, including mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The White House said it will appeal.