Claude creator Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, accusing the government of punishing the startup for not acceding to its demands.
In a lawsuit filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the AI startup asks the court to declare the government’s actions unlawful, including Trump’s order to immediately cease using Claude in federal agencies and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to designate Anthropic as a “supply-chain risk to national security.”
Anthropic claims that its decision to hold fast to its judgment that Claude cannot safely or reliably be used for autonomous lethal warfare and mass surveillance of Americans was met with swift government retaliation.
“Official designation as a ‘Supply-Chain Risk to National Security’ carries profound weight, particularly under a President who has threatened both ‘criminal consequences’ and ‘the Full Power of the Presidency’ to enforce compliance. Anthropic’s contracts with the federal government are already being canceled. Current and future contracts with private parties are also in doubt, jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in the near term.
On top of those immediate economic harms, Anthropic’s reputation and core First Amendment freedoms are under attack. Absent judicial relief, those harms will only compound in the weeks and months ahead.”
In a separate lawsuit filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Anthropic asks the court to review and overturn the Pentagon’s “supply chain risk” determination under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act.
“Anthropic petitions this Court for review because the Department of War’s actions are, among other things, a pretextual form of retaliation in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution; arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion; unsupported by the administrative record; not in accord with procedures required by law; and in excess of statutory authority.”
In a recent interview, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called the supply-chain risk designation “unprecedented” and said the firm stood on American principles when it drew redlines on AI use for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous lethal warfare.
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