Anthropic asks US appeals court to reconsider case over Pentagon decision — CNBC

Anthropic has asked a federal appeals court in Washington, US, to rehear its appeal in the case concerning the Pentagon’s decision to designate the company as a supply chain risk. In September, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the US Department of Defense’s decision in a 2-1 ruling.

According to CNBC, in a motion filed on Tuesday, Anthropic’s lawyers said the court ignored evidence that the Pentagon’s decision was a response to the company’s public statements about artificial intelligence safety.

Anthropic’s position

The company’s lawyers argue that Anthropic was designated a national security and supply chain risk after it refused to allow its models to be used for mass surveillance of Americans or in lethal autonomous weapons systems. They also said the company’s models help protect the country.

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The Pentagon’s and court’s decision

The US Department of Defense assigned Anthropic supply chain risk status in March. This blocked defense contractors from using the company’s technologies while working with the department. The decision was preceded by a breakdown in negotiations over how the military could use Claude models.

Anthropic sued the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking to overturn the decision. In September, the court rejected the company’s arguments that the ban on using Claude models was arbitrary, unauthorized, and unconstitutional.

Previous cooperation

Before the conflict became public, Anthropic cooperated with a number of US government agencies, including the Department of Defense. In July 2025, the company signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon, but negotiations on deploying Claude on the GenAI.mil platform, which began in September of that year, ended without an agreement. Representatives of Anthropic and the Pentagon did not provide CNBC with prompt comments.