Four leading U.S. human rights organizations have sued the administration of President Donald Trump over its campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC). The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges that the administration's broad sanctions targeting the international court and entities cooperating with it risk trampling the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and organizations. This is one of several similar legal challenges previously filed.
The four groups—the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Open Society Institute (OSI)—argue that the sanctions force them to scale back numerous human rights and legal activities, thereby violating constitutional rights such as freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial.
The lawsuit also accuses President Trump of exceeding presidential authority by declaring a national emergency with “no factual basis,” according to an HRW statement. Joyce Ajlouny, AFSC's Secretary General, stressed: “The U.S. government's effort to dismantle the ICC and punish those who seek justice for serious human rights violations not only harms the individuals and organizations sanctioned, but is an affront to every victim and survivor of war crimes and genocide.”
Since taking office last year, Trump has escalated his approach to the ICC. In February 2025, he signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against the court's prosecutors, judges, and officials, as well as individuals or organizations supporting ICC investigations. The order cited arrest warrants the court issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over war crimes in Gaza and an investigation into abuses by foreign forces in Afghanistan, including U.S. military personnel.
Several ICC judges and prosecutors, Palestinian human rights groups providing evidence to the court, and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese have been sanctioned by the U.S. Previously, the organization DAWN and the Taxpayers Against Genocide Alliance (TAAG) sued the Trump administration; ICC judges and Albanese's family also filed lawsuits related to travel bans and asset freezes.
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to intensify pressure to “neutralize” the ICC, accusing the court of “waging war against our country, not with bullets but with laws and so-called international law.” He also threatened tighter oversight of countries receiving U.S. aid and increased penalties on officials. Chad, an ICC member state, announced its withdrawal from the court, citing pressure from Washington. International law experts called the move puzzling, as no U.S. citizens are currently being investigated or prosecuted by the ICC, apart from a stalled Afghanistan investigation.
The U.S. is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the ICC, and thus is not under the court's jurisdiction, though abuses on the territory of member states can be investigated. Federal judges in Maine and New York ruled last year that Trump's order violated the constitutional rights of activists and scholars providing expertise to the ICC.
In the new lawsuit, the four human rights organizations state that the sanctions prevent them from representing war victims as lawyers, submitting legal and policy proposals to the ICC, cooperating with sanctioned Palestinian human rights groups to conduct proceedings, coordinating advocacy campaigns, researching human rights violations, or providing humanitarian aid. Due to the dominance of U.S. financial and technology companies, the sanctions also affect organizations not operating in the U.S.
James Goldston, Executive Director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, urged: “These sanctions are an attack on the rule of law, independent judges and prosecutors, and civil society in the U.S. and worldwide. They betray America's historic leadership in the cause of international justice and are a slap in the face to victims and survivors of serious crimes who look to the ICC as a court of last resort.”
