Anthropic sues the US government

In response to the Pentagon’s declaration that Anthropic’s Claude is a national security supply chain risk, the AI company has filed suit in Northern California federal court.

Anthropic is asking the court to declare President Trump’s directive unconstitutional, and for federal agencies to be enjoined from enforcing punishment against the company.

In its lawsuit, Anthropic lays out the back and forth that led to the fissure between itself and the Department of Defense, punctuated by the start of America’s war with Iran last week, which reportedly involved the US using Anthropic’s technology to help choose targets in the massive air campaign.

The complaint alleges:

“These actions are unprecedented and unlawful. The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here. Anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the Executive’s unlawful campaign of retaliation.”

The lawsuit lays out five areas in which Anthropic says the US government’s actions violate the company’s rights and the law.

Arbitrary and capricious

Anthropic says that the government’s actions against it violate the Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits agencies from actions that are “arbitrary and capricious” and that exceed statutory limitations.

The complaint highlights a key contradiction in the government’s actions against Anthropic. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the company’s technology was so critical that if the company did not “get on board,” it would use the Defense Production Act to force the company to comply with its terms. But it also said that it could declare Anthropic’s tech a national security supply chain risk (which it just did):

“The Secretary’s February 27 Order announcing his ‘final’ decision contains invective against Anthropic, but no explanation of why Claude constitutes a supply chain risk. It does not attempt to reconcile the Secretary’s assertion that those models are a threat ‘to National Security’ with his decision to allow the Department to continue using them for half a year — let alone the Department’s past praise for those models or its simultaneous suggestion that Anthropic might be commandeered into providing them on the Department’s terms under the Defense Production Act.”

Free speech

Anthropic argues in the suit that the Pentagon is violating the company’s First Amendment rights (remember, companies are considered people under the law).

The complaint says that Hegseth and Trump’s public statements “confirm that the government took the Challenged Actions because of what Anthropic said, not because of any legitimate procurement or security concern.”

Anthropic said that the government’s own words undermine the claimed risks to national security:

“...‘we need them and we need them now’ because Claude is just ‘that good.’”

Presidential overreach

Anthropic also lays out why it believes the actions were in violation of Article II of Constitution. When Trump posted to Truth Social ordering “EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology,” Anthropic says that “the President has no inherent Article II authority for the Presidential Directive,” and the action has caused the company “ongoing and irreparable harm.”

Due process

Anthropic also alleges that the US government imposed “draconian punishments on Anthropic without any meaningful process,” denying the company due process and any opportunity to challenge the actions, and did not provide any evidence of the claims the government made against the company.

“To the extent that a formal process did occur out of public view, it is clear that the outcome was fatally predetermined by the Department’s retaliatory animus. Prejudgment and process tainted by animus do not satisfy the requirements of the Due Process Clause.”

Exceeding agency authority

After Hegseth and Trump publicly castigated Anthropic, many US agencies moved to end the use of the company’s products. The complaint names 17 agencies and their heads, and says that they, like Trump, exceeded their statutory authority.

The agencies’ orders to cease using Anthropic’s products, terminate contracts, and bar Anthropic from competing for future contracts all went beyond their legal authority:

“No statute authorizes federal agencies to impose abrupt and en masse orders and sanctions limiting Anthropic’s ability to compete and impugning Anthropic’s reputation.”

You can read Anthropic’s complaint in full below: