The record \u2014 which included a batch of emails<\/a> between Anthropic\u2019s Dario Amodei and DOD\u2019s research and engineering leader, Emil Michael, leading up to the clash \u2014 also didn\u2019t provide additional justification from the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf anything, it seems like the record, in some ways, has gotten worse for the government,\u201d Lin said.<\/p>\n Lin said she did not see evidence that Anthropic could alter the model after it provided access to the government, that it could turn it off with a \u201ckill switch,\u201d or that the model was provided to DOD with nefarious controls. Rather, she said, the record suggests that Anthropic publicly criticized the DOD and that led to the government\u2019s stated lack of trust in the AI provider.<\/p>\n As such, Lin said the government\u2019s position appears to be that if a defense contractor criticizes the administration, that criticism can itself amount to a breach of trust and open the door for retaliatory actions, including taking away contracts and calling that company an enemy of the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf that\u2019s really what the government\u2019s position is,\u201d Lin said she finds it \u201cto be really troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n The hearing on competing motions for the court to rule in each party\u2019s favor is the latest in the legal battle at the heart of tensions between the Trump administration and Anthropic.\u00a0<\/p>\n The dispute<\/a> began early this year when Anthropic went public<\/a> with the details of its disagreement with the Pentagon over its technology\u2019s use. In response, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued directives via social media banning federal agency use of the technology and announcing the designation of the company as a supply-chain risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those actions had immediate impact, with agencies across the government halting use of Claude internally. Anthropic challenged the government\u2019s actions in both district and circuit court.<\/p>\n In the interim, Lin\u2019s preliminary injunction issued a temporary block allowing agencies to continue using Anthropic tools while the case moves forward. While not directly related to the legal challenge, the Trump administration also took the eyebrow-raising step of enacting export controls.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the Thursday hearing, Lin asked about the status of Anthropic use across the government and whether any agencies were winding down or exploring new uses of the company\u2019s products.<\/p>\n James Harlow, a Justice Department lawyer representing the government, told Lin that the DOD continues its work to phase out the systems with a completion date of Sept. 30. And another unnamed defendant agency had preexisting plans to transition away from Anthropic and to another AI provider.<\/p>\n Harlow explained that elsewhere in government, use of Anthropic is nuanced in that some agencies are experimenting with the tools via sandboxes, pilot programs and through third-party vendors. He specifically referenced a pilot program several agencies are using that will end at the end of August.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unless agencies decide to continue or modify their use, after the Aug. 30 deadline, that use would stop, Harlow said.<\/p>\n While he didn\u2019t name the program, it\u2019s almost certainly the General Services Administration\u2019s OneGov<\/a> deals, through which several AI technology providers have offered their products at deeply discounted rates for roughly a year.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Michael Mongan, a lawyer with Wilmer Hale representing Anthropic, said two unnamed agencies paused negotiations on new contracts, while other federal agencies are still pursuing new deals.<\/p>\n He said Anthropic is not aware of agencies canceling contracts since the preliminary injunction, though there was a contract with the Pentagon\u2019s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) that was canceled before the court\u2019s injunctive relief. As for private contractors winding down Anthropic use, Mongan said it\u2019s hard for them to tell and much of the information is secondhand.<\/p>\n Mongan said they have heard secondhand reports about DOD communicating with contractors and subcontractors about Claude, but the government was in a better position to answer those questions.<\/p>\n Notably, a separate flare-up between the administration and Anthropic has taken place in the background while the litigation advanced.<\/p>\n In June, the Trump administration restricted<\/a> Anthropic\u2019s Mythos 5 and Fable 5 systems, citing national security concerns posed by a potential bypass of their security restrictions. But the export controls it put in place were lifted<\/a> just a few weeks later after the administration and Anthropic worked out guardrails.\u00a0<\/p>\n Federal government use of Mythos came up at the Thursday hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among her questions<\/a>, Lin asked the government to provide details about expanded use of Anthropic tools in national security, including deployment of Mythos. Lin said that expanded use of Anthropic\u2019s services, like Mythos, would be inconsistent with DOD\u2019s arguments in the case.<\/p>\n Reports<\/a> suggest<\/a> the government is using the model.<\/p>\n Harlow initially argued that the question solicited nonpublic information and was irrelevant to the case, as the action would have come after the preliminary injunction. He later indicated it may be possible to submit something after the hearing, however.<\/p>\n Mongan said he agreed such a question about expanded use would be relevant but understood national security concerns from the government. He suggested a private discussion or brief explanation from the government post-hearing, but said Anthropic didn\u2019t want the question to delay judgement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\tWritten by Madison Alder![\"Madison](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785535270_118_alder-headshot.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tMadison Alder is a reporter for FedScoop in Washington, D.C., covering government technology. Her reporting has included tracking government uses of artificial intelligence and monitoring changes in federal contracting. She\u2019s broadly interested in issues involving health, law, and data. Before joining FedScoop, Madison was a reporter at Bloomberg Law where she covered several beats, including the federal judiciary, health policy, and employee benefits. A west-coaster at heart, Madison is originally from Seattle and is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal district judge appears poised to again side with Anthropic in a legal challenge over the Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[53,111,182,331,7339,2770],"class_list":["post-126289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anthropic","tag-anthropic","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-claude","tag-department-of-defense-dod","tag-onegov","tag-trump-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}