---
type: source
title: "Judge Grants Anthropic Preliminary Injunction but Pentagon CTO Says Ban Still Stands"
author: "Breaking Defense"
url: https://breakingdefense.com/2026/03/judge-grants-anthropic-preliminary-injunction-but-pentagon-cto-says-ban-still-stands/
date: 2026-03-26
domain: ai-alignment
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
processed_by: theseus
processed_date: 2026-05-11
priority: high
tags: [anthropic, pentagon, injunction, contempt, executive-defiance, Mode-2]
intake_tier: research-task
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Breaking Defense's coverage of the March 26 preliminary injunction, including the Pentagon CTO's reported statement that the ban still stands despite the court order.

**The injunction:**
Judge Lin granted the preliminary injunction blocking the supply chain risk designation and the executive directive banning Anthropic from federal contracts.

**Pentagon response:**
Pentagon CTO (identity not disclosed in article) reportedly stated the ban still stands — implying non-compliance with the court order. The precise legal status of this non-compliance is unclear: the preliminary injunction is a federal court order; ignoring it would constitute contempt of court.

**The contempt risk:**
The administration's approach appears to be challenging the district court's jurisdiction (the California ND Cal court may lack jurisdiction over a federal procurement decision that should be litigated in the DC Circuit or COFC) while maintaining the operational effect of the ban. This is not straightforward contempt — it's a jurisdictional challenge dressed as compliance resistance.

**Practical effect:**
Federal agencies had been notified of the ban on Anthropic products. The preliminary injunction nominally restores Anthropic's ability to bid on federal contracts. Whether contracting officers actually resumed using Claude products is unclear — institutional inertia can preserve a de facto ban even when a court order nominally removes it.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** If the administration is defying a preliminary injunction, this is a constitutional crisis within the AI safety governance dispute. It also complicates the B1 analysis: even if Anthropic wins in court, the government may maintain the practical effect of the ban through institutional inertia and jurisdictional challenges. A court order doesn't automatically restore market access if contracting officers treat the ban as still operative.

**What surprised me:** That the Pentagon CTO statement appeared within hours of the injunction. This is unusually fast defiance — suggesting the administration anticipated the adverse ruling and pre-planned the "ban still stands" response. It's coordinated rather than reactive.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any specific mechanism by which the administration justified non-compliance. The jurisdictional challenge (California ND Cal lacks jurisdiction) is the likely legal basis, but it was not articulated clearly in this article.

**KB connections:**
- [[government designation of safety-conscious AI labs as supply chain risks inverts the regulatory dynamic]] — the administration's willingness to potentially defy a court order to maintain the designation is the most extreme version of this claim
- Tillipman's Lawfare piece (same day) — the procurement-as-governance structural inadequacy is made concrete when even a court order to restore normal procurement can be circumvented through institutional defiance
- B1 belief ("not being treated as such") — if the government defies court orders to maintain coercive pressure on AI safety constraints, the governance mechanism (judicial review) is itself being circumvented

**Extraction hints:** Possible claim: "Government institutional inertia can preserve de facto AI procurement bans even after judicial orders removing them — demonstrating that formal governance mechanisms (court orders) may be insufficient to restore safety-preserving market dynamics when the executive defies or delays compliance."

**Context:** The administration has generally been resistant to judicial orders in 2025-2026 in multiple policy areas. The Anthropic case may be part of a broader pattern of executive defiance of federal court orders, making the AI safety governance dispute harder to resolve through traditional judicial channels.

## Curator Notes

PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[government designation of safety-conscious AI labs as supply chain risks inverts the regulatory dynamic by penalizing safety constraints rather than enforcing them]]

WHY ARCHIVED: The Pentagon CTO's "ban still stands" response to a judicial order reveals a fifth governance failure mode: even when judicial mechanism works (court order issued), executive defiance may preserve the practical effect of the banned action

EXTRACTION HINT: This source should be extracted alongside the preliminary injunction source. The extractable claim is about the gap between formal legal remedy and practical governance effect when the executive ignores court orders.
