A federal judge told a San Francisco courtroom on 24 March 2026 that the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic 'looks like an attempt to cripple' the AI company, and questioned openly whether the government was punishing it for speech.
US District Judge Rita F. Lin, presiding over Case 3:26-cv-01996-RFL in the Northern District of California, made the remarks at a hearing on Anthropic's motion for a preliminary injunction, the company's attempt to freeze the Pentagon's 'supply-chain risk' designation while its full lawsuit is litigated.
