First blood to Anthropic as US judge slams Trump 2.0's “Orwellian" attempt to cripple the firm as unconstitutional and illegal

The war goes on, but Anthropic has won a significant first battle as a US Judge grants a stay of execution against the Department of War’s  (DoW) “Orwellian” attempt to brand the US AI champion a national security risk, and ban public sector buyers from using it or anyone who associates with its tech.

The background to the ruling is well-known by now. Anthropic went overnight - literally - from being the only AI provider with security clearance for the Pentagon’s most sensitive systems to being deemed a threat to national security as a result of its refusal to remove red line clauses from its contract with the US Government. These centered on not allowing its tech to be used to spy on US citizens, and not allowing AI to launch missiles on its own!

As well as ditching Anthropic directly, which all parties appear to agree is within the law, Secretary of War Pete Hesgeth and President Donald Trump went further, telling all Federal agencies that they need to remove all trace of Anthropic within six months, and warning third parties who want to pick up business with the Government to break ties with the firm.

That would cost Anthropic multi-billions of dollars, according to the vendor, which legalled up and applied for an injunction to prevent what it called over-reach by the authorities being put into action. US District Court Judge Rita Lin heard evidence from both sides earlier this week, which included an admission from DoW lawyers that Hegseth mis-spoke in his pronouncements against Anthropic, and has now come down pretty firmly on the side of Anthropic.

As per her ruling on Thursday, Secretary Hesgeth acted without following due procedure when he announced his 'final decision' via X, rather than seeking appropriate Congressional approvals. He and the Administration are also accused of being excessive in their actions:

The record supports an inference that Anthropic is being punished for criticizing the government’s contracting position in the press…Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government’s contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation.

[The Pentagon’s] designation of Anthropic as a ‘supply chain risk’ is likely both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious…Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the US for expressing disagreement with the government.

Language

Lin made a point of picking out intemperate language used by both Hesgeth and Trump in their public attacks on Anthropic, which called the firm “woke” and made up of “left-wing nut jobs” as being indicative of their true intent in terms of the actions they took:

If this were merely a contracting impasse, DoW would presumably have just stopped using Claude. The challenged actions, however, far exceed the scope of what could reasonably address such a national security interest...The government's actions raise serious constitutional questions. Labelling a domestic company a 'supply chain risk' without meaningful process undermines the very principles the government claims to protect.

She added in her 28-page opinion, that the Government made no finding of an actual or imminent threat to national security, but simply disagreed with the company's terms of service:

If the concern is the integrity of the operational chain of command, the Department of War could just stop using Claude. Instead, these measures appear designed to punish Anthropic.

What now? 

The preliminary injunction means that Anthropic can resume work on existing Federal Government contracts as per the status quo on 27 February, while the case proceeds through the courts. The company said in a statement:

While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI.

Meanwhile it’s been all quiet from leading US Government sources on X since the ruling, although the Pentagon’s official line is that it is reviewing the decision and will evaluate its options. It has a week to appeal Lin’s ruling before the injunction takes effect.

My take

I don’t like it - it’s too quiet out there!

The Pete Hegseth who was quick to take to X to denounce Anthropic’s “master class in arrogance and betrayal” has held his fire so far since the Judge’s ruling came in.

It can’t last.

More to come.