Court lets Pentagon exclude Claude over its use restrictions
A divided appeals court rejected Anthropic's challenge under a federal supply-chain law. A separate ruling involved a different statute.
Verified 12:22 AM PDT · 2 original sources
The D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 on September 25 that the Pentagon could exclude Claude from its supply chain. Anthropic had challenged the decision under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018.
The dispute followed Anthropic's refusal to relax restrictions on lethal autonomous warfare and domestic surveillance. The majority rejected the company's statutory and constitutional challenges.
This ruling applies to one procurement law. SiliconANGLE reports that a California court ruled differently under another law. The courts considered different legal requirements.
The majority found that Anthropic's restrictions could limit how the military uses Claude. The court left the President and the Secretary of War to decide how much that risk matters.
Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson dissented. She disputed whether Anthropic meets the law's definition of a supply-chain risk.
SiliconANGLE reports that Anthropic is considering further review, but that does not mean the company has filed an appeal. Watch for a filing or an order that changes the exclusion.
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Original sources
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- U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. CircuitAnthropic v. Department of War, opinion ↗
- SiliconANGLEFederal appeals court upholds Pentagon Claude ban ↗
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