---
id: "2026-09-25-appeals-court-upholds-pentagon-anthropic-designation"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-25-appeals-court-upholds-pentagon-anthropic-designation/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-09-25"
date_precision: day
category: policy-safety
importance: 3
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 7
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-14"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-25-appeals-court-upholds-pentagon-anthropic-designation/

# D.C. Circuit upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk

Full title: D.C. Circuit upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk (2–1)

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

## What happened

The 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.

## Why it matters

It 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.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 148 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 87 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): 178 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 117 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [D.C. Circuit opinion (CourtListener)](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.42923/gov.uscourts.cadc.42923.01208829653.2.pdf) (storage.courtlistener.com, docs)
2. [CNBC: Appeals court upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/25/pentagon-anthropic-ai-risk-appeals-court.html) (cnbc.com, press)
3. [ABC News: Federal appeals court upholds designation](https://abcnews.com/Business/anthropic-appeals-court-declines-block-pentagon-blacklisting/story?id=136755690) (abcnews.com, press)
4. [Tech Times: Pentagon can blacklist AI ethics policies under FASCSA](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/328109/20260928/pentagon-can-blacklist-any-ai-ethics-policy-under-supply-chain-law-fascsa-court-rules.htm) (techtimes.com, press)
5. [CNBC: Anthropic urges court in Washington, D.C. to rehear appeal of Pentagon blacklisting (Oct 13)](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/13/anthropic-wants-court-in-dc-to-rehear-appeal-of-pentagon-blacklist-.html) (cnbc.com, press)
6. [Startup Fortune: Anthropic asks full appeals court to rehear its Pentagon blacklist case](https://startupfortune.com/anthropic-asks-full-appeals-court-to-rehear-its-pentagon-blacklist-case/) (startupfortune.com, press)
7. [Pete Hegseth on X: 'Confirmed: @AnthropicAI = Supply Chain Risk'](https://x.com/PeteHegseth/status/2103563771180638228) (x.com, discussion)

## Changes

- 2026-10-14: Anthropic's Oct 13 petition for rehearing en banc; panel composition
- 2026-09-29: Added post link(s) (1) from Anthropic posts cluster
- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-08-27: [Judge rules Pentagon "supply chain risk" label on Anthropic unlawful retaliation](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-08-27-court-rules-pentagon-anthropic-label-unlawful/index.md)
- 2026-02-27: [Pentagon designates Anthropic a "supply chain risk" after it refuses surveillance and autonomous-weapons uses](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-02-27-pentagon-designates-anthropic-supply-chain-risk/index.md)
- People: [Pete Hegseth](https://postcutoff.com/person/pete-hegseth/)
- Archived: 3 posts, listed in https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-25-appeals-court-upholds-pentagon-anthropic-designation/index.json