US Appeals Court Upholds Pentagon's Blacklisting of Anthropic Technology

<p>A US appeals court has upheld the Department of Defense's decision to blacklist Anthropic technology. The court ruled that the Trump administration had the authority to blacklist Anthropic for not providing certain AI features to the military, even without evidence of malicious intent from the company.</p><p>In a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.42923/gov.uscourts.cadc.42923.1208891909.0_1.pdf">2-1 ruling</a> issued by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the judges noted that the case raises significant questions regarding the military applications of advanced technology. The ruling highlighted concerns about the potential risks of both overly constrained AI models, which could lead to failures in military operations, and unconstrained models that might generate inappropriate targets for military action.</p><p>The court stated that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth must find a balance between these competing risks. It concluded that the Secretary acted within his authority under the Supply Chain Security Act and the Constitution, thus denying the petitions for review. This court had previously <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/trump-appointed-judges-refuse-to-block-trump-blacklisting-of-anthropic-ai-tech/">denied</a> Anthropic's emergency motion for a stay in April.</p>