US Judge Overturns Trump-Era Sanctions Against AI Firm Anthropic

A federal judge in California has declared illegal the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The ruling, issued Thursday, found that the sanctions were politically motivated and not based on actual security risks.

This decision specifically prohibits all executive entities and government departments from terminating their contracts with Anthropic, as Donald Trump had ordered in February. The sanctions had been temporarily suspended in March by the same judge, Rita Lin, and the new ruling makes that suspension permanent. The government has the option to appeal.

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This decision prohibits all entities of the executive branch and ministries from terminating their contracts with Anthropic.

However, the ruling does not resolve all disputes. The Defense Department's decision to exclude Anthropic, which triggered the initial crisis, remains in effect. This exclusion is based on a different federal procurement code provision that was not examined in the California case but is being contested by Anthropic in a separate federal court case in Washington.

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The measures were intended to 'make an example' of a company deemed 'arrogant,' and not to ward off a real threat.

The conflict began when Anthropic refused to lift restrictions on its AI model, Claude, concerning autonomous lethal attacks or mass surveillance of Americans. At the time, Donald Trump had criticized the company as being "radical left" and "out of control." The Defense Department had also placed Anthropic on a "supply chain" and national security risk list, a designation typically reserved for foreign companies, effectively barring Pentagon contractors from using Anthropic's products.

Judge Lin stated that the measures were intended to "make an example" of an "arrogant" company, rather than address a real threat. She noted that the government had abandoned its argument that Anthropic could alter its models post-delivery, making them potentially inoperable for the military. The Trump administration had cited a loss of "trust" due to the company's public criticisms.

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The invocation of national security was hollow.