{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-25-appeals-court-upholds-pentagon-anthropic-designation/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-25-appeals-court-upholds-pentagon-anthropic-designation/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-09-25-appeals-court-upholds-pentagon-anthropic-designation","date":"2026-09-25","date_precision":"day","short_title":"D.C. Circuit upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk","deck":null,"takeaway":null,"category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"D.C. Circuit opinion (CourtListener)","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.42923/gov.uscourts.cadc.42923.01208829653.2.pdf","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"storage.courtlistener.com"},{"n":2,"title":"CNBC: Appeals court upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic","url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/25/pentagon-anthropic-ai-risk-appeals-court.html","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"cnbc.com"},{"n":3,"title":"ABC News: Federal appeals court upholds designation","url":"https://abcnews.com/Business/anthropic-appeals-court-declines-block-pentagon-blacklisting/story?id=136755690","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"abcnews.com"},{"n":4,"title":"Tech Times: Pentagon can blacklist AI ethics policies under FASCSA","url":"https://www.techtimes.com/articles/328109/20260928/pentagon-can-blacklist-any-ai-ethics-policy-under-supply-chain-law-fascsa-court-rules.htm","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"techtimes.com"},{"n":5,"title":"CNBC: Anthropic urges court in Washington, D.C. to rehear appeal of Pentagon blacklisting (Oct 13)","url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/13/anthropic-wants-court-in-dc-to-rehear-appeal-of-pentagon-blacklist-.html","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"cnbc.com"},{"n":6,"title":"Startup Fortune: Anthropic asks full appeals court to rehear its Pentagon blacklist case","url":"https://startupfortune.com/anthropic-asks-full-appeals-court-to-rehear-its-pentagon-blacklist-case/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"startupfortune.com"},{"n":7,"title":"Pete Hegseth on X: 'Confirmed: @AnthropicAI = Supply Chain Risk'","url":"https://x.com/PeteHegseth/status/2103563771180638228","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"x.com"}],"official":1,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-14","orgs":["Anthropic"],"title":"D.C. Circuit upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk (2–1)","summary":"On September 25, 2026 the D.C. Circuit ruled 2–1 that the Pentagon may keep Anthropic designated as a supply chain risk under a parallel legal authority (FASCSA). This lets the department remove Claude from its systems. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson dissented, and Anthropic said it is weighing further review.","key_facts":["Decision Sept 25, 2026, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, 2–1","Majority: Claude's built-in restrictions and the unresolved contract dispute could make it unreliable for military operations; rejected free-speech and due-process claims","Dissent (Henderson): the law does not treat 'a contractor's honest and upfront enforcement of restrictions' as a supply-chain risk","Anthropic noted that another federal court had held the parallel designation unlawful (Aug 27)","Panel: Judge Gregory Katsas wrote the 43-page majority opinion, joined by Judge Neomi Rao; Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson dissented (8 pages) (Startup Fortune, citing the ruling)","Oct 13, 2026: Anthropic petitioned the full D.C. Circuit for rehearing en banc (Bloomberg Law, CNBC, Reuters). Per CNBC, its lawyers argue the majority stretched a law aimed at hostile foreign actors so that it 'presumptively reaches every government contractor', and that the court overlooked evidence the designation was retaliation for Anthropic's speech about AI safety. En banc review is discretionary and rarely granted; the designation stays in effect meanwhile"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["government","military","lawsuit","fascsa"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nThe ruling concerns a separate designation under a different statute from the one Judge Lin struck down in August, so two federal courts have now reached opposite outcomes on the government's actions.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nIt suggests the US military can exclude AI vendors whose usage policies restrict military applications. That has direct consequences for how labs write their acceptable-use policies.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-08-27-court-rules-pentagon-anthropic-label-unlawful","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-08-27-court-rules-pentagon-anthropic-label-unlawful/","date":"2026-08-27","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Judge rules Pentagon \"supply chain risk\" label on Anthropic unlawful retaliation","deck":null,"takeaway":"It was a major legal win for an AI company defending usage restrictions against government pressure.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":5,"official":0,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-26","orgs":["Anthropic"]},{"id":"2026-02-27-pentagon-designates-anthropic-supply-chain-risk","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-02-27-pentagon-designates-anthropic-supply-chain-risk/","date":"2026-02-27","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Pentagon designates Anthropic a \"supply chain risk\" after it refuses surveillance and autonomous-weapons uses","deck":null,"takeaway":"This was the most serious clash yet between a US frontier lab's safety or usage policies and the federal government.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":4,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"partly","labels":["Partly confirmed"]},"sources":8,"official":3,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["Anthropic"]}],"people":[{"id":"pete-hegseth","name":"Pete Hegseth","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/pete-hegseth/"}],"posts":[{"id":"2026-02-26-anthropic-dario-statement-department-of-war","title":"Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-02-26-anthropic-dario-statement-department-of-war/"},{"id":"2026-02-27-anthropic-statement-comments-secretary-war","title":"Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-02-27-anthropic-statement-comments-secretary-war/"},{"id":"2026-09-25-petehegseth-anthropic-supply-chain-risk-confirmed","title":"Hegseth: \"Confirmed: @AnthropicAI = Supply Chain Risk\"","url":"https://postcutoff.com/p/2026-09-25-petehegseth-anthropic-supply-chain-risk-confirmed/"}],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-10-14","type":"edit","text":"Anthropic's Oct 13 petition for rehearing en banc; panel composition"},{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"edit","text":"Added post link(s) (1) from Anthropic posts cluster"},{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-09-29","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-10-14","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-14"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":148,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":87,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-hydrogen","name":"Gemini 4 Hydrogen","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":178,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":117,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}