Anthropic wins preliminary injunction in DOD fight as judge cites 'First Amendment retaliation'

Source: CNBC

Published Thu, Mar 26 2026 7:12 PM EDT Updated 6 Min Ago


A federal judge in San Francisco granted Anthropic's request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the Trump administration.

Judge Rita Lin issued the ruling on Thursday, two days after lawyers for the artificial intelligence startup and the U.S. government appeared in court for a hearing. Anthropic sued the administration to try to reverse its blacklisting by the Pentagon and President Donald Trump's directive banning federal agencies from using its Claude models.

Anthropic sought the injunction to pause those actions and prevent further monetary and reputational harm as the case unfolds. "Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government's contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation," Judge Lin wrote in the order. A final verdict in the case could still be months away.

During Tuesday's hearing, Lin pressed the government's lawyers about why Anthropic was blacklisted. Her language in the order was even sharper. "Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government," she wrote.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/26/anthropic-pentagon-dod-claude-court-ruling.html