Anthropic, the maker of Claude, filed a petition on October 13, 2026 asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear a case it lost on September 25, which upheld the Defense Department’s designation of the company as a supply chain risk under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act. This designation bars Pentagon personnel and contractors from using Claude due to Anthropic’s contract terms prohibiting use for lethal autonomous warfare and domestic surveillance. The company argues the panel failed to properly address the due process and First Amendment issues raised by the Pentagon’s actions. This legal battle follows a separate victory in California in August 2026, where Judge Rita Lin ruled that related government actions amounted to unconstitutional retaliation against Anthropic’s public positions on AI safety. The D.C. Circuit’s decision on whether to grant the en banc rehearing will determine whether constitutional protections or national security deference carries more weight.
Source: Read the original article
