On February 6, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order authorizing sanctions on staff of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and people or entities who engage with the court to seek justice for victims of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in cases the U.S. does not like. The ICC is a “court of last resort,” where cases can be brought against individuals when countries that otherwise would exercise jurisdiction are unwilling or unable. There are currently 125 member states of the ICC, including many of the U.S.’s closest allies, but not the United States. 

As the executive order makes clear, the Trump administration is using the order to penalize efforts to hold U.S. and Israeli officials accountable for serious international crimes. The four organizations — the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Institute — have joined together in this case to push back collectively on this direct attack on human rights, free speech and association, and international justice. We are asking the district court to strike down the sanctions in full, to make sure that we can continue working across the entire international justice and human rights movement, including with key Palestinian partners, on behalf of victims of the worst atrocities.

Pursuant to the executive order, the Trump administration has sanctioned eight ICC judges; the top ICC prosecutors; the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese; and three well-respected Palestinian human rights organizations, Al-Haq: Law in the Service of Man, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), for supporting justice and accountability at the ICC. U.S. persons and organizations, including the Center for Constitutional Rights and our co-plaintiffs, can face punishment of up to 20 years of imprisonment and exorbitant fines for providing services to sanctioned persons or entities.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, challenges the Trump administration's illegal sanctioning of individuals and organizations affiliated with or assisting the work of the ICC and criminalization of those who associate with or otherwise support them. The plaintiffs state that the sanctions are a blatantly illegal attack on international justice and should be struck down. The groups assert the sanctions force them to curtail a wide range of human rights and legal work in violation of their First and Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The lawsuit also argues that the sanctions exceed the president’s powers and are based on a pseudo “national emergency” that has no basis in fact.

The sanctions have stopped the four plaintiff organizations from continuing or undertaking activities like representing victims of war crimes as legal counsel, making legal and policy submissions to the ICC, and collaborating with the sanctioned Palestinian human rights groups to undertake litigation, coordinate advocacy campaigns, research human rights violations, or provide humanitarian aid. The executive order profoundly damages the plaintiffs’ ability to collaborate with others, including the sanctioned Palestinian human rights groups, as well as other members of civil society who fear sanction or punishment, thereby harming their ability to protect human rights and advance the cause of justice. The crippling effects of the sanctions extend well beyond U.S. borders; due to the dominance of U.S. financial institutions and technology companies and the threat of losing access to the U.S. banking system, non-U.S. banks and other entities outside of U.S. jurisdiction are also being chilled from providing services. Sanctioned individuals and Palestinian human rights groups have experienced frozen or closed bank accounts, rejection of financial transactions, denial of access to digital services, and travel bans.

In 2025, federal courts in New York and Maine found the executive order violated the First Amendment and temporarily or permanently stopped enforcement of the sanctions regime against the plaintiffs in those cases. Since the executive order was issued in February 2025, ICC states parties, the leadership body of the court’s Assembly of States Parties, the European Union, UN experts, the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, civil society organizations, and the ICC itself have spoken out strongly against the effort to obstruct the court’s work.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has previously denounced Trump’s ICC executive order and the sanctioning of its long-time Palestinian partner organizations Al Haq, Al Mezan, and PCHR, and on July 17, 2026 — “international justice day” — joined with 125 U.S.-based organizations and individuals to urge the administration to stop its attack on the ICC and international justice. For at least the last 15 years, the Center for Constitutional Rights has supported victims of serious international crimes in seeking justice and accountability at the ICC. This work includes representing the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in their effort to have an investigation opened into the widespread rape, torture, and other forms of sexual violence against children and vulnerable adults world-wide, and serving as counsel for victims of Bush-era U.S. torture in the Afghanistan investigation as well as Palestinian victims in the ongoing investigation into crimes by Israeli nationals on the territory of the State of Palestine. This critical work has been undermined by the executive order and sanctions.

The ICC has launched 18 investigations around the globe, including in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, the Philippines, Darfur (Sudan), and Ukraine. This includes a Palestine investigation that led to the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza. The only known investigation related to U.S. nationals was for alleged crimes in Afghanistan more than twenty years ago, and it was “deprioritized,” i.e., effectively shelved, in 2021.