Thurgood Marshall United States Federal Courthouse building in lower Manhattan, New York City.
(New York) – An array of former government officials, human rights groups, bar associations, and legal experts from around the world have filed eight amicus briefs supporting a lawsuit challenging US President Donald Trump’s executive order authorizing sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, staff, and others affiliated with or assisting the court’s work.
The American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Institute brought the suit on August 11, 2026. They subsequently sought a preliminary injunction to stop the sanctions, which they say illegally undermine access to justice for victims of serious international crimes and prevent civil society from working together to end impunity.
The groups say in their suit that the sanctions are a blatantly illegal attack on international justice. The groups assert the sanctions have forced them to curtail a wide range of work in violation of their First and Fifth Amendment rights under the US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Their lawsuit also argues the sanctions exceed the president’s powers and are based on a false claim of a “national emergency,” arising out of the work of the ICC, that has no basis in fact.
While the ICC has long been a target of opponents of international justice due to its investigations into atrocities, including in Libya, the Philippines, Sudan, and Ukraine, its Palestine investigation—which led to arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and a Hamas official on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity—has sparked an escalated assault by the Trump administration on the institution and the rule of law.
In July, US Se
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