{"slug": "appeals-court-sides-with-pentagon-in-heated-battle-over-ban-on-anthropic-s", "title": "Appeals court sides with Pentagon in heated battle over ban on Anthropic's Claude", "summary": "A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the Pentagon's supply chain risk designation excluding Anthropic from military contracts, a designation formally issued in March after Anthropic refused Secretary Pete Hegseth's February demand to remove safeguards on its Claude model for fully autonomous lethal weapons and mass domestic surveillance. The ruling keeps the procurement-based ban in effect and creates a potential legal conflict with a separate California federal court decision last month that found a broader Trump administration ban on Anthropic illegal; an Anthropic spokesperson said, \"We respectfully disagree with the court's decision.\" The military had used Claude across classified and sensitive systems, including the January operation that captured and deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and Anthropic is heading for a blockbuster IPO expected in weeks.", "body_md": "## Appeals court sides with Pentagon in heated battle over ban on Anthropic's Claude\n\nWashington DC - **An appeals court upheld on Friday the** [Pentagon](https://www.tag24.com/en/news/politics/us-politics)**'s decision to exclude Anthropic from its supply chain, a decision taken when the** [AI](https://www.tag24.com/en/tech/artificial-intelligence) **startup refused to remove certain safeguards on its Claude model.**\n\nThe conflict began in February when Anthropic refused Pentagon Secretary [Pete Hegseth](https://www.tag24.com/en/news/politics/politicians/pete-hegseth)'s demand to remove restrictions on the use of Claude for fully autonomous lethal weapons and mass domestic surveillance of Americans.\n\nThe [supply chain risk designation](https://www.tag24.com/en/news/politics/politicians/pete-hegseth/pete-hegseth-announces-drastic-response-to-anthropic-defiance-as-trump-orders-federal-ban-3475275), formally made in March, canceled Anthropic's military contracts and barred other Pentagon contractors from using its technology.\n\nThe designation against Anthropic marked a highly unusual application of the authority against a US company.\n\nThe company has since become a pariah at the White House, even as it plays a major role in the highly crucial AI sector and heads for a blockbuster IPO expected in weeks.\n\nThe White House has bristled at Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's repeated warnings about the dangers of AI – with President [Donald Trump](https://www.tag24.com/en/news/politics/politicians/donald-trump) calling them a hoax.\n\nThe appeals court decision created a potential legal conflict with a separate federal court decision in California that found last month that a broader ban imposed by the Trump administration against Anthropic was illegal.\n\nThe Pentagon decision upheld on Friday was based on public procurement regulations and now remains in effect.\n\n\"We respectfully disagree with the court's decision. Another federal court has already held the government's parallel designation unlawful. We remain confident in our position and are considering all options, including further review,\" an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement to US media.\n\n**The military had been using Claude across a range of classified and sensitive systems. According to reports, this included during the January operation that** [captured and deposed](https://www.tag24.com/en/topic/world/venezuela/venezuelas-maduro-makes-big-push-for-immunity-ahead-of-us-trial-3529614) **Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.**\n\nCover photo: Michael M. Santiago / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/appeals-court-sides-with-pentagon-in-heated-battle-over-ban-on-anthropic-s", "canonical_source": "https://www.tag24.com/en/news/politics/us-politics/appeals-court-sides-with-pentagon-in-heated-battle-over-ban-on-anthropics-claude-3535305", "published_at": "2026-09-25 16:51:40+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-25 16:59:22.070384+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-safety", "large-language-models"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Claude", "Pentagon", "Pete Hegseth", "Dario Amodei", "Donald Trump", "Nicolas Maduro", "White House"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/appeals-court-sides-with-pentagon-in-heated-battle-over-ban-on-anthropic-s", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/appeals-court-sides-with-pentagon-in-heated-battle-over-ban-on-anthropic-s.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/appeals-court-sides-with-pentagon-in-heated-battle-over-ban-on-anthropic-s.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/appeals-court-sides-with-pentagon-in-heated-battle-over-ban-on-anthropic-s.jsonld"}}