Judge Questions Pentagon Motives in Anthropic Supply Chain Blacklisting; Court Hearing Tests AI-Military Boundaries

A federal judge pressed the Pentagon on its justification for labeling Anthropic as a supply chain security risk, questioning whether the designation was retaliatory. Anthropic argued it is being punished for demanding the DOD not use Claude for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. The company is seeking to pause both the supply chain risk designation and Trump's directive banning federal agencies from using Claude. The judge noted that Trump administration public statements may undermine the government's legal position. The case establishes a precedent for AI companies asserting ethical use conditions against government contracts.