US human rights groups sue Trump over anti-ICC push

WASHINGTON – Four leading US human rights groups on Aug 11 sued the Trump administration over its campaign aimed at dismantling the International Criminal Court, calling the effort unconstitutional.

US President Donald Trump in 2025 issued an executive order authorising sanctions on prosecutors, judges and others working with the court for pursuing cases against officials from the US and its ally Israel, neither of which are members of the ICC.

Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Institute, the American Friends Service Committee and the Center for Constitutional Rights said in their lawsuit filed in New York that those sanctions prevent them from working with the court to seek justice for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity around the world.

“The plaintiffs are seeking an end to this sanctions regime, which transgresses the President’s authority and violates international and US law, including the rights to freedom of expression and religion,” lead counsel Andrew Loewenstein of Foley Hoag, which is representing the human rights groups, said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes after a similar one filed in July by advocacy groups who work on human rights for Palestinians. In response to that lawsuit, the State Department said the groups were seeking to “enable ICC overreach” and said the court posed a threat to US sovereignty.

Three ICC judges have separately sued the Trump administration over the sanctions.

Trump’s opposition towards the ICC goes back to his first term. A similar executive order Trump issued in 2020 was blocked by a judge, who said it likely violated the First Amendment, before being rescinded by President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in July that the administration would step up efforts to undermine the court in The Hague, including with a diplomatic campaign aimed at persuading other countries to quit it. Rubio argued that the court posed a threat to US personnel carrying out Trump’s hard-line immigration policies or strikes on boats accused of carrying drugs, as well as other US service members.

Trump, during a July 31 Cabinet meeting, said in response to an update from Rubio that the campaign was aimed at defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, rather than Trump himself. REUTERS