A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw |
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REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration |
Anthropic's lawsuit challenging its Pentagon blacklisting is likely to test the reach of an obscure law aimed at guarding military systems against sabotage. Here’s what to know: |
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In labeling Anthropic as a supply chain risk, the Pentagon invoked a rarely-used law, known as 3252, that allows it to bar companies from certain contracts if they risk exposing military information systems to enemy infiltration. The law has never been tested in court or used against a U.S. company.
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The Pentagon can only exclude companies under 3252 as a last resort, and other defense contractors are not required to stop working with them entirely.
- Courts often defer to the executive branch's judgment on national security, and that will likely be the centerpiece of the government's defense. But five national security law experts told Reuters the Pentagon may have overstepped.
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Anthropic's lawsuit said that the supply chain risk designation punishes the company for its views on AI safety in violation of the First Amendment.
- Legal experts said President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s public attacks on Anthropic, including a social media post in which Trump called it a “RADICAL LEFT WOKE COMPANY,” could bolster this argument.
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Jack Queen has more legal analysis here.
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- Immigration: U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in D.C. will hold a motion hearing in a class action challenging the Trump administration's policy of warrantless immigration arrests in the city. Read the motion.
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Finance: U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan is expected to consider approving the U.S. government's agreement to end its long-running criminal prosecution of Turkish state-run lender Halkbank, which centered on allegations that the bank helped Iran evade American economic sanctions.
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Government: Unions representing federal workers will urge U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston to block the Trump administration from including what they said is a partisan "loyalty question" in job posts. Three unions including the American Federation of Government Employees alleged in a lawsuit that a question the Office of Personnel Management mandated job applicants be asked as part of an overhaul of the civil service is unconstitutional and violates free-speech rights. Read the complaint.
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CFIUS: U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in D.C. will hold a preliminary injunction hearing in the DOJ’s landmark lawsuit seeking to enforce a July 2025 presidential order requiring China-based Suirui Group and its subsidiary to divest their ownership of California-based Jupiter Systems. This is the first time the DOJ has sued to enforce a CFIUS-recommended divestiture of a completed transaction. Read the complaint.
- SCOTUS: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is scheduled to address iCivics’ Civic Learning Week 2026 remotely.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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- DOJ official Ed Martin is facing legal disciplinary charges in D.C. accusing him of leveraging his position to try to force Georgetown University's law school to halt its teaching of DEI, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
- Federal judicial policymakers outlined plans to accelerate the development of a new, more secure electronic case management system, saying a major hack of the system last year made clear the need for an upgrade.
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The federal judiciary also approved a new office focused on improving the quality of representation of indigent criminal defendants at the U.S. Supreme Court, with the goal of creating a counterweight to the U.S. Solicitor General's Office.
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Sweden-based legal AI startup Legora said it had raised $550 million at a $5.55 billion valuation in a Series D funding round to accelerate its expansion across the U.S. Learn more.
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"The probability of us resolving this is about zero." |
—Live Nation executive Dan Wall, to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan. To which Subramanian replied “Not with that attitude.” The judge told Live Nation to negotiate with a group of U.S. states accusing the live entertainment conglomerate of anticompetitive conduct, a day after the DOJ settled its claims. Read more here.
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That’s how much prison time lawyer Ari Lauer was sentenced to for his role in an estimated $912 million Ponzi scheme involving California solar power supply company DC Solar. |
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