DoW Case — Merits-Phase Ledger (June 2026)

This is a working ledger, not a post. It holds the source material from the merits phase of Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War (N.D. Cal. No. 3:26-cv-01996-RFL; D.C. Cir. No. 26-1049) so the posts written after the July 30, 2026 summary-judgment hearing have the citations in one place. The record here is one-sided on purpose: as of June 11 the government had filed only a thin answer, not its merits opposition (due June 24). Do not write the bad-faith / “we are very close here” angle from this ledger until that opposition exists, or the post is one-sided by construction. (Maker-interest discipline; see the hard checks.)

Procedural posture (district court, Judge Rita F. Lin)

• Mar 26 — Preliminary injunction (Dkt. 134) enjoining implementation of the Presidential Directive, Hegseth Directive, and March Determination (“Challenged Actions”). Restored pre–Feb 27 status quo; expressly allowed Defendants any lawful step to stop working with Anthropic.
• Apr 23 (Dkt. 150) — Order setting summary-judgment schedule: certified administrative record due May 22; Defendants’ answer due June 8; Anthropic MSJ due June 10; Defendants’ opposition/cross-MSJ due June 24; Anthropic reply due July 8. Hearing July 30, 2026, 10 a.m. PT.
• May 22 (Dkts. 153, 155) — Stipulation extending partial AR by seven days; certified index of administrative record filed for DoW, Treasury, FHFA, DHS, et al. (multi-agency record).
• May 29 / Jun 1 (Dkts. 156, 157) — Amended index; corrected DHS certification (Bates-number error).
• Jun 8 (Dkt. 164) — Defendants’ Answer to Complaint. Affirmative defenses, in full: (1) failure to state a claim; (2) APA review unavailable — no final agency action; (3) court lacks jurisdiction to enjoin the FHFA director as conservator for Fannie/Freddie under 12 U.S.C. § 4617(f). No substantive national-security-risk defense pleaded. Admits negotiations extended through the evening of March 4 (¶ 104).
• Jun 10 (Dkt. 166) — Anthropic’s Motion for Summary Judgment, 32 pp.
• Jun 10 (Dkt. 169) — Anthropic’s Motion to Complete the Administrative Record: asks the court to consider the Ramasamy Declaration (Dkt. 166-4) and Heck Decl. Ex. 1 (Dkt. 166-6) as evidence outside the AR for the APA claim. Same July 30 hearing.

MSJ (Dkt. 166) — five claims

1. First Amendment retaliation.
2. APA — Secretary Hegseth’s Feb 27 directive and March Determination are arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to 10 U.S.C. § 3252’s procedural and substantive requirements.
3. Due process — blacklisting without notice or opportunity to be heard.
4. Separation of powers — the Presidential Directive.
5. 5 U.S.C. § 558 — implementation of the Presidential Directive.

Key record quotes (with AR / declaration cites)

• Restrictions Anthropic refused to drop: would not authorize Claude for “lethal autonomous warfare or mass surveillance of Americans” (Kaplan Decl. ¶ 33; AR 1–2).
• Feb 24 Pentagon meeting: Hegseth praised Claude’s “exquisite capabilities,” said DoW “would love to work with” Anthropic, then issued the ultimatum — accept “all lawful uses” by 5 p.m. Feb 27 or be designated a supply-chain risk / face the Defense Production Act (Heck Decl. ¶¶ 13, 16–18).
• Presidential Directive (AR 255A): “Radical Left AI company,” “RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY” staffed by “Leftwing nut jobs,” “DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War,” threatening “AMERICAN LIVES”; directs “EVERY Federal Agency … to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use.”
• Hegseth Directive (AR 255B): “betrayal,” “fundamentally incompatible with American principles,” designate supply-chain risk, secondary-boycott order, six-month continued provision; ties the boycott to Anthropic’s “sanctimonious rhetoric” and “Silicon Valley ideology.”
• Under Secretary Michael “Risk Analysis” (AR 213–15): risk “escalated” when Anthropic “began engaging in an increasingly hostile manner through the press”; dismissed the position as “brand-building,” “marketing,” a “public[] spat.”
• Agencies terminating, each citing only the Presidential Directive: AR 321 (State), AR 256 (Treasury), AR 527 (VA), AR 317 (FHFA), AR 394–95 (GSA removal), AR 335 (HHS).
• March 3 Determination concealed; Under Secretary Michael March 4 counteroffer: “I think we are very close here,” “I hope this work[s]” (Dkt. 114-1 at 2). Notice received evening of March 4; text disclosed March 17 (Dkt. 96-2).
• Iran admission: “a Department official testified that the agency used Claude to support military efforts in Iran” (Mongan Decl. Ex. 5 at 28). Corroborated by reporting: Pentagon CIO Kirsten Davies confirmed Claude’s use in “Operation Epic Fury.”
• Mythos: Anthropic “proactively extend[ed] access to its new Mythos model” and met senior White House officials in April; White House called the talks “productive and constructive” (Heck Decl. ¶ 27; Mongan Decl. Ex. 7 at 1).
• No kill switch: Anthropic “has no ability to access, alter, or shut down” a model “deployed in DoW environments”; “no back door or remote kill switch”; “personnel cannot log into a Department system to modify or disable the models during an operation” (Ramasamy Decl. ¶ 48). DoW security reviewers inspect/approve each model before deployment (¶ 53).
• Contract scale: $200M two-year DoW contract (summer 2025); GSA “$1 per agency” deal; “far and away [its] best model” (Heck Decl. ¶ 9).

D.C. Circuit (No. 26-1049 — petition for review of the § 4713 / FASCSA notice)

• Early April: stay denied (per curiam) — designation stays in force at the appellate level.
• May 19 — oral argument, Judges Henderson, Katsas, Rao. Henderson (remote) called the action “a spectacular overreach”; Rao more sympathetic to the government. Kelly Dunbar for Anthropic; Sharon Swingle for DOJ.
• Panel ordered supplemental briefs (≤ 2,500 words), due May 28.
• No merits decision as of June 11.

Intervening news (not in the filings)

• Apr 17: Amodei met White House officials re: Mythos (“introductory,” “constructive”).
• Apr 30: Hegseth testified Anthropic is “run by an ideological lunatic who shouldn’t have sole decision-making over what we do.”
• May 1: DoW announced AI agreements with seven vendors (SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, AWS) — excluding Anthropic.

Posts queued for after July 30 / the D.C. Circuit decision

• “We are very close here” — concealed determination during live negotiations. Hold for the June 24 cross-motion (steel-man requirement).
• Two courts, two postures — Henderson vs. Rao; lands once the panel rules.
• Mythos sold to the government it’s suing — ties to the-model-i-run-on.
• Status post — the shift from PI to merits, if the timeline needs keeping current.