U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a 59-page ruling on Thursday, striking down the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk. The decision follows a lengthy legal dispute between the AI company and the Trump administration regarding the military's utilization of Anthropic’s artificial intelligence models.

In her opinion, Judge Lin criticized the government's reliance on national security concerns, stating that such claims do not provide a "blank check" for the government to retaliate against critics. The ruling suggests that the Pentagon’s actions were perceived by the court as punitive rather than a legitimate security measure. The judge specifically noted that the Pentagon continued to pursue collaborative work with the firm even while maintaining the blacklist, which undermined the government's argument that the company posed an inherent risk to military supply chains.

This ruling represents a significant legal win for Anthropic, which had argued that the government's classification was an overreach intended to punish the company for its public stance on AI policy. The Pentagon has not yet announced whether it will appeal the decision, but the ruling effectively halts the current restrictions placed on the company's ability to contract with the Department of Defense.