Anthropic Finds Skeptical Judge in Pentagon Supply Chain Hearing, Ruling Due This Week
A federal judge told the Pentagon its campaign against Anthropic looked like 'an attempt to cripple' the company. During Tuesday's 90-minute hearing, the Pentagon's own lawyer contradicted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, conceding the military lacked authority to bar contractors from working with Anthropic. Congress wrote the supply chain risk statute for foreign adversaries like Huawei. The Pentagon used it against a domestic AI lab that asked for two contract lines. The ruling lands this week.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin told the Pentagon's lawyers on Tuesday that the government's campaign against Anthropic looked like "an attempt to cripple" the company, according to multiple reports from a 90-minute hearing in San Francisco federal court. Lin called the Defense Department's supply chain risk designation "troubling" and questioned whether the government broke the law by going far beyond simply dropping Anthropic as a vendor. A written ruling is expected within the next few days.
Tech translator with German roots who fled to Silicon Valley chaos. Decodes startup noise from San Francisco. Launched implicator.ai to slice through AI's daily madness—crisp, clear, with Teutonic precision and sarcasm.
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