A US appeals court on Friday upheld the Pentagon’s decision to exclude Anthropic from its supply chain, leaving in place a measure that canceled the AI company’s military contracts and bars other Pentagon contractors from using Claude.
The dispute began in February, when Anthropic refused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s demand to remove Claude safeguards against use in fully autonomous lethal weapons and mass domestic surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon formally designated the company a supply-chain risk in March. A separate federal court in California ruled last month that a broader Trump administration ban was unlawful, creating a potential legal conflict.
Anthropic said it disagreed with Friday’s ruling and was considering all options, including further review. The company said another federal court had already found the government’s parallel designation unlawful.
