Four U.S. human rights organizations have taken legal action against President Donald Trump’s administration for imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleging that the sanctions are illegal. The lawsuit was filed by the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Institute in the Southern District of New York. Trump was accused of overstepping his authority by issuing an executive order in February 2025 that authorized sanctions against ICC personnel, as well as foreign individuals or entities supporting the court’s activities. These sanctions were imposed following the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants in late 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, alleging crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza. The U.S. criticized the ICC for these warrants and its investigation of American personnel in Afghanistan when announcing the sanctions. The plaintiffs argue that the sanctions have impeded their human rights and legal advocacy work, violating their constitutional rights, including freedom of speech.
Human Rights Watch’s international justice director, Liz Evenson, expressed concern over the Trump administration’s actions, stating that targeting the ICC undermines the rule of law crucial for ensuring safety and protecting human rights globally. The White House responded to CBC’s inquiry about the lawsuit by criticizing the ICC, accusing it of being politicized and making unfounded claims to prosecute U.S. and allied nationals. The ICC, headquartered in The Hague, is responsible for investigating and prosecuting individuals accused of war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and aggression. The longstanding tensions between the U.S. and the ICC escalated during the Trump administration, leading to sanctions against ICC officials, including judges like Canada’s Kimberly Prost.
Recently, the U.S. government intensified efforts to dismantle the ICC, citing concerns about American sovereignty. The Trump administration faced another lawsuit for its ICC sanctions, with advocacy groups alleging violations of freedom of speech and suppression of Palestinian human rights advocacy. Separately, sanctioned ICC judges, including Prost, filed a lawsuit asserting that the sanctions were an unlawful attempt to influence their judicial decision-making. In a separate legal development, U.S. legal entities sought clarity from a judge regarding restrictions on birthright citizenship imposed by the Trump administration, following the Supreme Court’s rejection of attempts to deny citizenship to certain individuals born in the U.S. The ACLU and other groups argued that the executive orders attempting to limit birthright citizenship circumvent the Supreme Court’s rulings and should be invalidated.