Thurgood Marshall United States Federal Courthouse building in lower Manhattan, New York City.
Four human rights groups (the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Institute) filed a lawsuit in US federal court challenging the Trump administration’s sanctions against ICC prosecutors and judges, a UN human rights expert, and three Palestinian human rights groups.The sanctions regime, and the executive order on which it is based, undermines access to justice for victims of serious international crimes around the globe and prevents civil society from working together to combat impunity.The groups state that the sanctions are a blatantly illegal attack on international justice and should be struck down. The groups assert the sanctions infringe their constitutional rights to free speech, association, and religion, and violate US law and US obligations under international law.
(New York) – Four human rights groups filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on August 11, 2026, alleging that the Trump administration is illegally sanctioning individuals and organizations affiliated with or assisting the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is criminalizing those who associate with or otherwise support them. The suit challenges President Donald Trump’s February 6, 2025 executive order authorizing sanctions on ICC officials, judges, and others working with the court to seek justice for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The plaintiffs (the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Institute, a part of the Open Society Foundations) state that the sanctions are a blatantly illegal attack on international justice and should be struck down. The groups assert the sanctions force them t
