Anthropic asks appeals court to rehear Pentagon blacklisting case

Anthropic petitioned a Washington appeals court on Tuesday to rehear its challenge to the Pentagon's supply chain risk designation, which since March has blocked defence contractors from using its Claude models in work for the department.

Why it matters: The case tests whether the government can exclude an AI supplier over its safety red lines, with a September panel ruling for the Pentagon now sitting against an August ruling in San Francisco that found a First Amendment violation.

Data as of Tuesday, October 13, 2026, night. Single report: CNBC, opened and read in full via a live browser session; Anthropic declined to comment beyond the filing and the Pentagon said it does not comment on pending litigation, hence grade C. Developing item, 2 to 3 sentences by design.

Anthropic asked the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday to rehear its appeal against the Defence Department’s March decision to designate the company a supply chain risk, a label that bars defence contractors from using Claude in their Pentagon work. The company argues the designation was retaliation for its refusal to allow its models to be used for mass surveillance of Americans or lethal autonomous warfare, and for speaking publicly about those commitments.

A divided panel upheld the Pentagon in September by two votes to one, rejecting Anthropic’s claim that the ban was arbitrary, unauthorised and unconstitutional, while a federal judge in San Francisco ruled in August that the designation violated the company’s First Amendment rights. Anthropic had signed a 200 million dollar Pentagon contract in July 2025, but talks over deploying Claude on the department’s GenAI.mil platform collapsed that September.

Anthropic asks appeals court to rehear Pentagon blacklisting case

Sources