Link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/hegseth-trump-had-no-authority-to-order-anthropic-to-be-blacklisted-judge-says/

"Classic First Amendment retaliation." That's how US District Judge Rita Lin described the Department of War's effort to blacklist Anthropic and designate it a supply-chain risk.

By all appearances, "these measures appear designed to punish Anthropic," Lin wrote in an order granting Anthropic's request for a preliminary injunction.

Officials seemingly had no authority to take such extreme actions without considering less restrictive alternatives or offering any evidence that Anthropic posed an urgent risk to national security, Lin said. Instead, "the Department of War’s records show that it designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk because of its 'hostile manner through the press.'"

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Can we please just generally assume that the things they do are illegal and beyond their authority, until proven otherwise?

That will help. Then toothless bodies like the UN, ICC, or Congress can start writing their letters of condemnation sooner.