Anthropic filed its second action in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals because the court is charged with reviewing protests to administrative decisions made by the secretary of defense.
“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,” Anthropic’s attorneys wrote in their petition to the D.C. Circuit, noting that its lawsuit in California was challenging Hegseth’s supply-chain determination, rooted in a law that is not part of the D.C. court’s jurisdiction.
Anthropic’s twin legal attack on the Pentagon’s decision was driven by laws that specifically govern which courts have authority to hear challenges of the kind being mounted by the company.
In response to the lawsuits, White House Spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement that President Trump “will never allow a radical left, woke company to jeopardize our national security by dictating how the greatest and most powerful military in the world operates.”
“The President and Secretary of War are ensuring America’s courageous warfighters have the appropriate tools they need to be successful and will guarantee that they are never held hostage by the ideological whims of any Big Tech leaders. Under the Trump Administration, our military will obey the United States Constitution – not any woke AI company’s terms of service,” said Huston.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the department does not comment on ongoing litigation.
The lawsuits are the latest development in a tumultuous dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic over the company’s restrictions on the military’s use of its technology.
At a meeting with Hegseth last month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he would not allow Claude to be used to surveil American citizens or empower autonomous weapons. In response, Hegseth threatened to label the company a supply-chain risk — an unprecedented designation historically reserved for companies with ties to U.S. adversaries.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon told Anthropic it was formally designating the company a supply-chain risk. Days earlier, President Donald Trump sent a social media post ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s Claude AI model (which has reportedly been used by the Pentagon in ongoing combat operations in Iran).
Anthropic’s lawsuits highlights statements made by Trump and Hegseth in the course of their spat with the company to argue that the government seeks to suppress its constitutionally-protected speech.
“The Constitution confers on Anthropic the right to express its views — both publicly and to the government — about the limitations of its own AI services and important issues of AI safety,” the company’s lawyers wrote.
The company in its California lawsuit also accused the government of exceeding the legal scope of the supply-chain risk designation statute. Anthropic argued in court documents that the law is narrow and meant to address the risk that foreign adversaries could sabotage or subvert a national security system — a determination it says the government has not made about the company.
Anthropic also argued in its California lawsuit that Trump and Hegseth exceeded their authority by attempting to cancel the startup’s government contracts without following correct procurement procedures. The company also claimed the government violated the Administrative Procedures Act and Anthropic’s Fifth Amendment right to due process.