In a Thursday hearing, U.S.

District Judge Rita Lin stated that the Trump administration has not provided sufficient evidence to justify labeling Anthropic a “supply chain risk” and banning federal use of its technology.

The dispute originated from stalled contract negotiations between Anthropic and the Department of Defense (DOD), where Anthropic refused to allow its AI for mass surveillance of Americans or for targeting and lethal weapons decisions, arguing the technology was not ready.

The Pentagon countered that a private company should not dictate military use and claimed it would use the tools lawfully.

The government also argued that Anthropic‘s public criticism of the DOD justifies the ban, a logic Judge Lin called “really troubling,” warning it could set a precedent of retaliating against contractors who disagree with the administration.

The DOD further claimed Anthropic could disable or alter its AI models during warfighting operations, but Judge Lin agreed with experts that there was no proof of such a “kill switch.

” Thursday’s hearing is part of one of two lawsuits Anthropic filed in March challenging the ban and risk designation; the other is in Washington.

Judge Lin, who temporarily blocked the ban in March, is now considering making that order permanent.