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Another day, another Biden-appointed judge standing between the Trump administration and common sense. According to a federal court ruling from the Northern District of California, Judge Rita Lin blocked the Pentagon and other federal agencies from cutting ties with Anthropic, the AI company that President Trump accused of endangering American troops. As stated in Trump’s executive order last month, he directed all federal agencies to halt use of Anthropic’s AI technology after the company refused to comply with Pentagon demands.
The story here is almost too predictable. In his public statements, Trump called Anthropic a ‘radical left, woke company’ that was trying to ‘strong-arm the Department of Defense’ and force the military to obey their terms of service instead of the Constitution. Judge Lin ruled that Trump’s ban violates the First Amendment, as noted in her court opinion, and she paused her ruling for a week to allow the Justice Department time to appeal. The question isn’t whether private companies have rights, it’s whether the Commander-in-Chief has the authority to decide which contractors pose a risk to national security.
Trump’s original order, as outlined in the White House announcement, included a six-month phase-out period for agencies already using Anthropic’s products. That’s hardly the action of a tyrant. According to Pentagon statements, they had previously criticized Anthropic and its AI assistant Claude for not aligning with military needs, making clear they had no interest in using AI for mass surveillance, just for defending the country. We’ve seen this movie before: a Biden judge finds a creative constitutional argument to block a Trump policy, the administration appeals, and the case drags on while the original problem festers.
Meanwhile, federal agencies keep sending taxpayer dollars to companies that openly oppose the administration’s agenda. Is this really what the First Amendment was meant to protect? The appeal will tell us whether higher courts agree that AI companies have a constitutional right to federal contracts. For now, the Biden judiciary continues to function as the most effective opposition party in America.
Providence watches over the bold.
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