A U.S. federal appeals court in Washington on Friday affirmed the Department of Defense’s decision to designate Anthropic as a supply‑chain risk. The ruling comes after months of legal disputes between the AI developer and the Trump administration, according to CNBC.
By a 2–1 vote, Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao rejected Anthropic’s argument that the DoD’s ban on the company’s Claude models was arbitrary, unsupported, and unconstitutional. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson filed a dissenting opinion.
In his opinion, Judge Katsas said the department had sufficient grounds to conclude that further integration of the Claude models into government information systems could pose a national security risk.
March designation and operational effects
The Department of Defense classified Anthropic as a supply‑chain risk in March after negotiations over military uses of the Claude AI models broke down. As a result of that designation, neither the U.S. armed forces nor their contractors may use the company’s models.
Parallel lawsuits and split rulings
Anthropic filed suits in both San Francisco and Washington because the DoD relied on two separate legal bases for its decision, which had to be challenged in different courts. Earlier this month a federal judge in San Francisco ruled one of those legal bases unlawful; the Washington appeals court on Friday upheld the other.
Anthropic’s response and next steps
“Respectfully, we disagree with the court’s decision,” an Anthropic spokesperson told CNBC. The company noted that another federal court already found a parallel designation unlawful and said it is considering all available legal options, including further appeals.
Significance
The decision affects how the Department of Defense can treat AI vendors when national security concerns arise around military applications. It directly influences which external AI solutions the U.S. military and its suppliers can adopt.
(The article was prepared with assistance from an AI tool; the final content was edited and verified by a journalist.)
