Federal Judges Deny Anthropic Relief in Claude Military AI Ban, Set May Oral Arguments

A federal appeals court in Washington on April 8 rejected Anthropic’s bid to immediately halt the Pentagon’s blacklisting of its Claude artificial intelligence (AI) models from U.S. military contracts.

Key Takeaways:

Hegseth’s supply chain risk designation followed, an action typically applied to foreign entities such as Huawei. The label required contractors, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Palantir, to cease using Claude in any DoD-tied work. Anthropic called the move an “unlawful campaign of retaliation” for its refusal to let the government override its AI safety policies.

Anthropic filed parallel lawsuits in March 2026. One was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; the other targeted the specific procurement statute governing supply-chain risk in the D.C. Circuit.

The April 8 D.C. Circuit decision runs counter to Lin’s ruling, creating a legal tension over whether the designation is currently enforceable. The two courts are reviewing different statutory frameworks, which explains the procedural split.

Anthropic said in a statement that it remains confident in its position. “We’re grateful the court recognized these issues need to be resolved quickly and remain confident the courts will ultimately agree that these supply chain designations were unlawful,” the company said.

Industry observers flagged the case as a warning sign for U.S. AI development. Matt Schruers, CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said the Pentagon’s actions and the D.C. Circuit ruling “create substantial business uncertainty at a time when U.S. companies are competing with global counterparts to lead in AI.”