The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld the Pentagon's decision to blacklist AI company Anthropic. The court ruled 2-1 against the company, rejecting its claims that the Department of Defense's ban on the Claude model was arbitrary, lacked legal authority, and violated the Constitution.
Judges Gregory Katsas and Naomi Rao, both appointed by Donald Trump, stated that the Department of Defense had sufficient grounds to conclude that integrating Claude into military information systems poses a national security risk. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, appointed by George H.W. Bush, issued a dissenting opinion.
The conflict escalated in March when negotiations regarding the use of Claude by the military collapsed. The Pentagon subsequently designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, prohibiting both the military and its contractors from using the model. This ruling concerns one of two independent legal challenges filed by the company.
Anthropic previously secured a ruling from a San Francisco federal judge declaring one of the government's assessments unlawful. Following the latest decision, an Anthropic spokesperson stated the company is considering all legal remedies, including requesting a rehearing or appealing to the Supreme Court.
The dispute originated after a contract signed in July 2025 failed to result in the deployment of Claude on the genai.mil platform. The Pentagon demanded unrestricted access for all lawful military purposes, while Anthropic sought to restrict its technology from being used in autonomous lethal weapons and domestic surveillance.
