Former judges side with Anthropic and raise concerns about Pentagon's use of supply chain risk label
Source: CNN Business
Updated Mar 17, 2026, 9:54 PM ET
PUBLISHED Mar 17, 2026, 9:09 PM ET
Nearly 150 retired federal and state judges have filed an amicus brief on Tuesday supporting AI company Anthropic in its lawsuit against the Trump administration for designating it a “supply chain risk,” CNN has learned.
The former judges, appointed by both Republicans and Democrats, join a growing list of Anthropic supporters that includes industry organizations and former senior national security government officials, as well as Microsoft and staffers from competing AI companies.
The amicus brief underscores concerns raised in the tech, legal and national security community over the precedent the situation could set regarding government influence over private companies. For Anthropic, the stakes could be significant; the “supply chain risk” label could affect the company’s contracts with the vast ecosystem of private-sector firms that do business with the military.
“More fundamentally, as a practical matter, no one is trying to force the Department to contract with Anthropic,” the judges wrote. “Instead, Anthropic is asking only that it not be punished on its way out the door.” The Pentagon “misinterpreted the statute and violated the necessary procedures” when it labeled Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” they also wrote.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/17/tech/former-judges-support-anthropic
Link to FILING (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465515/gov.uscourts.cand.465515.96.0_3.pdf
(as a sidenote - I noticed the suit is titled "ANTHROPIC PBC, Plaintiff, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF WAR, et al., Defendants" using that new illegal moniker for the Department)