Anthropic heads to federal court Tuesday seeking a preliminary injunction against the US Department of War and the White House. The AI company was labeled a “supply chain risk to national security” after refusing to allow unrestricted military deployment of its Claude AI model-specifically for lethal autonomous weapons and domestic mass surveillance.
The hearing, fast-tracked by US District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco, follows Anthropic’s March 9 filing of two lawsuits. One contests the unprecedented application of a national security blacklist-traditionally reserved for foreign adversaries like Huawei-against a domestic firm. The other asserts First Amendment violations, arguing the government penalized Anthropic for ethical red lines.
The dispute stems from a $200 million Pentagon contract signed in 2025. Anthropic agreed to deploy Claude in classified systems but insisted on human oversight for weapon decisions and barred mass surveillance. The Department of War later claimed it feared Anthropic might disable or alter its AI during wartime if corporate ethics were breached-a concern Anthropic says never arose in original talks.
Major tech firms including OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, along with legal advocates, have filed amicus briefs backing Anthropic. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has pivoted to alternative AI partners.