GoKawiilCEO and co-founder of Anthropic Dario Amodei speak onstage during the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 03, 2025 in New York City.
A federal judge in San Francisco granted Anthropic's request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the Trump administration.
Judge Rita Lin issued the ruling on Thursday, two days after lawyers for the artificial intelligence startup and the U.S. government appeared in court for a hearing. Anthropic sued the administration to try to reverse its blacklisting by the Pentagon and President Donald Trump's directive banning federal agencies from using its Claude models.
Anthropic sought the injunction to pause those actions and prevent further monetary and reputational harm as the case unfolds.
Anthropic issued the following statement on the ruling, "We're grateful to the court for moving swiftly, and pleased they agree Anthropic is likely to succeed on the merits. While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI."
"Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government's contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation," Judge Lin wrote in the order. A final verdict in the case could still be months away.
During Tuesday's hearing, Lin pressed the government's lawyers about why Anthropic was blacklisted. Her language in the order was even sharper.
"Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government," she wrote.
Anthropic's suit followed a dramatic couple weeks in Washington D.C., between the Department of Defense and one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
In a post on X in late February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Anthropic a so-called supply chain risk, meaning that use of the company's technology purportedly threatens U.S. national security. The DOD officially notified Anthropic about the designation in a letter earlier this month.
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