Last night, Anthropic was given its preliminary injunction, with a stay of seven days.

Emil Michael is a very angry person right now. So is the Honorable Judge Lin.

We were worried we would draw a judge that had no idea how any of this worked and would give the government absurd deference or buy into nonsense arguments.

That is not how it played out. Judge Lin very much understood the issues in play, as they did not require a technical background. She hammered the government in the hearing, and she wrote one of the most forceful, devastating judge opinions I have ever seen. It was an honor and sparked joy to be able to read it.

This post will proceed chronologically, picking up after the events of my last update.

If you want the short version and don’t care about the incremental steps, you can skip directly to Judge Lin Drops The Hammer, leaving the rest as a historical document and source for those who need to establish various facts going forward, including in court.

Logistical note: Due to breaking news, AI #161 Part 2 will be published on Monday. Then, if [...]

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Outline:

(01:25) Anthropic Responds To The DoWs Brief

(12:05) Alan Rozenshtein and Others Suggest A Narrow Legal Way Out

(13:42) DoW Tried Another Uniquely Ill-Suited Theory Against Anthropic

(20:48) Other Views About The Situation From Back Then

(21:23) Potentially Long Suffering Judge Rita Lin Goes Hard At Hearing

(29:35) Emil Michael Tells On Himself

(41:54) Judge Lin Drops The Hammer

(49:57) Let Me Count The Ways

(53:35) Emil Michael Doubles Down Once Again

(55:57) What Happens Now

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First published:
March 27th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jdWHwsj8GvwgJSxF7/anthropic-vs-dow-6-the-court-rules

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Email from Michael Emil HON to Dario Amodei requesting contract language change from

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