Placed on Blacklist, US Advanced Weapons Supplier Wins Lawsuit Against Trump

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - A United States judge has supported Anthropic, which was accused of being a national security risk and placed on the Pentagon’s blacklist. This decision by US District Judge Rita Lin stems from the company’s lawsuit in a California federal court.

Anthropic accused Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth of exceeding his authority by designating the company as a national security supply risk. Additionally, the company claimed that the government violated its First Amendment free speech rights.

Anthropic stated that the US government had taken retaliatory actions regarding its views on AI security. The company also added that it was not given an opportunity to challenge the assessment.

Judge Lin agreed that the government’s actions were a form of punishment against Anthropic, not related to national security. She also stated that the government had violated First Amendment law.

“The record supports the conclusion that Anthropic was punished for criticising the government’s contract position in the media,” she explained, quoted from Reuters on Friday (27/3/2026).

“Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government’s contract position is a classic form of retaliation that violates First Amendment law,” she added.

However, Lin noted that her decision would not take effect for seven days. This was done to give the government a chance to appeal.

Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Cohen welcomed the decision. She also assured that her company would work with the government to provide safe and reliable AI benefits for US society.

This case arose after the company refused to allow the military to use its Claude AI chatbot for surveilling US citizens or creating autonomous weapons.

Anthropic opposed the requests, one of which was because it deemed the AI model not reliable enough for safe use in developing autonomous weapons. The company also opposed surveillance, citing rights violations.

Tensions between Anthropic and the US government emerged a day before the US launched a joint attack with Israel on Iran on 28 February 2026. A WSJ report stated that although Trump immediately announced a ban on Anthropic, the US military was still utilising Anthropic’s AI tools in the war against Iran.