Federal judge BLOCKS Hegseth from banning Anthropic, calling it “classic First Amendment retaliation,” in a historic legal blow.
Judge Rita Lin ruled that directives from Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering agencies to stop using Anthropic tools cannot be enforced. She made it clear the government was trying to “cripple Anthropic” and “chill public debate.”
Judge Lin: This appears to be classic First Amendment retaliation.
That ruling means Anthropic’s AI, including Claude, will continue being used across government and military contractors while the case plays out.
The fight started after Hegseth demanded the ability to have AI kill without human oversight, and spy on Americans. When Anthropic said no, Trump & Hegseth said they either needed to comply, or make them a “supply chain risk,” meaning all of government was banned from using them.
But the judge noticed something important.
Judge Lin: Trump and Hegseth referred to Anthropic as “woke” and “left-wing nut jobs,” not its lack of security. If this were merely a contracting impasse, DoD would presumably have just stopped using Claude. The challenged actions, however, far exceed the scope of what could reasonably address such a national security interest.
The Pentagon claims it was about security. The judge wasn’t buying it. This wasn’t about safety. It was about punishing speech and control.
This is a developing story — one that fascism is losing.