A federal court in San Francisco has ruled that the Pentagon unlawfully classified Anthropic as a supply chain risk. The Department of Defense blacklisted the company in retaliation for its public criticism of government AI policy. The designation formally remains in place because a parallel case in Washington is still pending. The ruling still sends an important signal ahead of Anthropic's planned IPO this fall.

The administration engaged in ‘unlawful retaliation in violation of the First Amendment,’ the ruling said.

The judge ruled that the Trump administration’s blacklisting of Anthropic stemmed from a “desire to make a public example out of Anthropic” for its criticism of the government.