DOJ Seeks to Restore Federal Claude Restrictions as Anthropic Makes IPO Filing Public

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice of appeal seeking to reinstate a broad federal restriction on Anthropic’s Claude, putting the company’s government business at stake.

The notice was filed with the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 26, the same day Anthropic made its IPO prospectus public. The public filing followed Anthropic’s earlier confidential IPO submission. A California court blocked the broader restriction in August.

The restriction would have required federal agencies to stop using Claude and barred defense contractors from commercial work with Anthropic outside military projects. In September, a Washington appeals court separately allowed the Pentagon to exclude Claude from military systems and related defense procurement on supply-chain risk grounds. TokenPost previously covered Anthropic’s challenge to the Pentagon’s supply-chain label.

The California judge found the government had not adequately supported its risk claims and concluded the broader restriction was retaliation for Anthropic’s public criticism of the government.

Revenue from government agency contracts accounted for about 1% of Anthropic’s total revenue. The court cited evidence that three government contractors ended, or were directed to end, contracts with the company. It also cited three near-complete deals with a combined value above $180 million that fell through. Some customers sought unilateral termination clauses, while others moved to competitors.

Anthropic estimated in court that fully implementing the broadest restriction could reduce its 2026 revenue by billions of dollars. The DOJ’s notice asks the Ninth Circuit to restore the broader restriction.