Anthropic vs. DoW #5: Motions Filed

# Anthropic vs. DoW #5: Motions Filed
By Zvi
Published: 2026-03-18
The news has thankfully quieted down on this front, and is mostly about the lawsuit as we build towards a hearing next week, after which we will find out if a temporary restraining order or an injunction is on the table.

The government arguments were going to be terrible no matter what, given the terrible set of facts and who was directing the argument, and their decision not to narrow their scope or compromise. But Anthropic has an uphill battle to try and get a random court to give them advance relief, so it could go either way.

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!H5AH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3b3b90fa-a7cf-4b3c-bd75-60a1af716e0b_1024x572.jpeg)

#### See You In Court

There are two big questions in the case Anthropic vs. Department of War.

The first is, who eventually wins?

The second is, will Anthropic win a temporary restraining order?

The bar for the second is much higher at the hearing on 3/24. Yes, Anthropic very obviously should get one and it is very scary to think they might not, [but as Dean Ball warns](https://x.com/deanwball/status/2033925048382210064) the injunction could be a rather tough ask even with this insanely damning set of facts on Anthropic’s side many times over, and its crazy list of amicus briefs.

On the FAI amicus brief for Anthropic PBC vs. DoW:

> [Neil Chilson](https://x.com/neil_chilson/status/2032109293680672951): This is a narrow, careful, and persuasive brief supporting a stay of the DoW’s supply chain risk designation against Anthropic. The argument focuses on the DoW’s apparent failure to follow the statutorily-required procedures for a SCR. Well done, @JoinFAI and team.

[Dean Ball points out that quite a lot of things are products](https://x.com/deanwball/status/2033238596656734660) made ‘in fulfillment of a defense contract,’ including for example the iPhone and iOS. Even a narrow supply chain risk designation, if it sticks, is big trouble.

[The CCIA, SIIA and ITI join Anthropic’s side in an amicus brief.](https://x.com/deanwball/status/2033628556937326819) The members include Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Intel, TSMC and so on.

[AI Village had the models discuss the case](https://theaidigest.org/village/goal/discuss-debate-act-your-views-about-recent).

#### The Government Responds

[The government responded with its brief](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465515/gov.uscourts.cand.465515.96.0_3.pdf) on 3/17 as scheduled.

Rather than try to defend a narrow action and do something reasonable, they raised. They claimed this was about ‘conduct, not speech,’ that Anthropic was unlikely to succeed, and that there was real future ‘sabotage risk’ if Anthropic was in the supply chain, and there is no contradiction with continuing to use Anthropic systems in a shooting war and threatening DPA i

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