Thursday, April 9, 2026
US court refuses to stay Pentagon’s ‘supply-chain risk’ blacklisting of Anthropic
A federal appeals court in Washington has refused to suspend the Pentagon’s supply-chain risk designation against Anthropic, leaving defense contractors with conflicting legal signals over whether they can continue using Claude, and putting the ruling at odds with a separate federal court that reached the opposite conclusion last month.
“The equitable balance here cuts in favor of the government,” a three-judge panel wrote in its order Wednesday. “On one side is a relatively contained risk of financial harm to a single private company. On the other side is judicial management of how, and through whom, the Department of War secures vital AI technology during an active military conflict.”
The panel, comprising Judges Henderson, Katsas, and Rao, acknowledged that Anthropic “will likely suffer some degree of irreparable harm” but found its interests “seem primarily financial in nature” rather than constitutional.
The order states the ruling is not a final decision on the merits. Oral arguments are set for May 19.
Anthropic had asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to pause the supply-chain risk designation issued March 3 by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The label, according to the company’s court filings, bars it from Pentagon contracts and requires defense contractors to stop using Claude in military work. The court denied the request, conflicting with a US District Court in California that granted Anthropic a preliminary injunction on March 26, blocking a parallel designation under a related statute.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the ruling “a resounding victory for military readiness” in a post on X. “Military authority and operational control belong to the Commander-in-Chief and Department of War, not a tech company,” he wrote.
Vendor risk is no longer predictable
For enterprises, the split ruling creates a compliance problem with no clean answer. The order states the Department has canceled its contracts with Anthropic, begun removing Claude from its systems, and prohibited contractors from using it as a subcontractor on Pentagon work. It also states, however, that “the Department has not prohibited contractors from using Claude for work performed for entities other than the Department.”
That distinction does not resolve the uncertainty. Following the California injunction, the government filed a compliance status report on April 6, cited in legal analysis by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, confirming it had restored Anthropic access across federal systems. That compliance applied only to the California statute. The broader D.C. designation remains active.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst at Greyhound Research, said enterprises are dealing with vendor risk that their procurement frameworks were not designed to handle. “It means a vendor does not have a single legal status anymore. It can be restricted under one framework and protected under another, at the same time. That is a very different world from the one enterprise procurement teams are used to operating in,” he said.
https://www.computerworld.com/article/4156534/us-court-refuses-to-stay-pentagons-supply-chain-risk-blacklisting-of-anthropic.html
Bill Ackman in talks to launch fund to bet on investor complacency, FT reports
- Bill Ackman is in talks to launch a fund that would bet on “complacency” in financial markets, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
- Ackman’s Pershing Square (PSUS) would use the fund to make “asymmetric” trades aimed at profiting by wagering against the prevailing narrative in markets, the report said. The fund would keep much of its assets in short-term US debt before deploying the capital on large credit and macro bets.
- In private discussions with potential investors in Pershing Square, Ackman has highlighted the fund as a potential way to boost the firm’s fee earnings, the report said.
- Rather than making new doomsday trades using Pershing Square’s main fund, an Amsterdam-listed public vehicle with about $20B in assets, Ackman was in discussions to craft an entirely new strategy, said three people briefed on the matter. The firm’s flagship fund had lost more than 16% of its value as of the end of March, the report added.
MacroGenics gets FDA clearance to resume enrollment in Phase 2 LINNET trial
MacroGenics gets FDA clearance to resume enrollment in Phase 2 LINNET trial of lorigerlimab in gynecologic cancers
- FDA lifted the partial clinical hold after MacroGenics implemented a revised trial protocol with additional patient safety measures.
Neogen raises FY26 revenue guidance and agrees to sell global Genomics business to Zoetis
- Neogen reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 results in conjunction with its guidance increase and Genomics divestiture announcement.
- Neogen entered a definitive $160 million agreement to sell its global Genomics business to Zoetis.
ImmunityBio announces preliminary Q1 2026 results
ImmunityBio announces preliminary Q1 2026 results with record $44.2 million in net product revenue and approximately $381 million in cash and marketable securities.
Amazon to Offer Lilly GLP-1 Pill Foundayo via Same-Day Delivery
Amazon Pharmacy offers real-time medication availability, transparent pricing starting as low as $1 per day with insurance and $5 per day for cash pay with automatic manufacturer-sponsored coupons, soon available via in-office kiosks within minutes
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)