The trick: Cherry-Picked Slice
A federal judge just told the Pentagon it can't blacklist Anthropic for refusing to build surveillance and autonomous-weapons tools.
The Pentagon has a second attempt still open.
a federal judge ruled the Pentagon's 'supply chain risk' designation of Anthropic, used to block it from federal contracts after Anthropic refused to let Claude be used for mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous weapons, was illegal retaliation, and vacated it.
Before you read on. Your call?
TRUE, BUT
2 cases
confirmed. Judge Rita F. Lin found the designation violated the First Amendment, due process, and the Administrative Procedure Act; no dollar figure for the contracts at stake was disclosed in any source.
The twist
the government is expected to appeal, and Anthropic has a second, separate lawsuit over a different 'supply chain risk' designation under a different statute still pending, so the Pentagon has not lost its only tool for excluding Anthropic again.
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The trick has a name
We call it Cherry-Picked Slice: the flattering subset, presented as the whole. You'll see it again. Learn to spot it →
Receipts
- Supports techcrunch.com:
The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics.
- Supports notus.org:
An IT vendor does not become a potential adversary of the United States whenever it asks probing questions or stubbornly insists on particular contracting terms
- Context ibtimes.com:
Anthropic refused to remove restrictions on using its technology for mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons.
- Context finance.yahoo.com:
the government bypassed mandatory legal procedures by terminating contracts and blocking future work without providing prior notice or a meaningful opportunity to respond
- Context techcrunch.com:
Anthropic filed two complaints against the DOD in March in California and Washington, D.C. The D.C. suit is still ongoing.
- Context notus.org:
Anthropic has a separate case pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging a related supply chain risk designation issued under a different federal law.
- Context notus.org:
The government is expected to challenge Thursday's ruling.
Open the Receipts Pack → What each source proves, every figure traced, and what would change our verdict.