Three ICC judges sue Trump administration over sanctions
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday announced a campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court, describing the global tribunal as “an intolerable threat to U.S. sovereignty” and vowing a coordinated whole-of-government response to disable its operations.
The campaign, detailed in a State Department press release and a video message from Rubio, will include diplomatic outreach to other nations, intensified scrutiny of countries that “refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority,” and visa revocations and travel bans for ICC personnel, according to the department.
“The campaign will be a whole-of-government response to systematically disable the ICC’s ability to operate,” Rubio said in the announcement.
In a video message accompanying the press release, Rubio framed the court as a threat to American self-governance. “Powerful people in far away places want to take that away from us,” he said. “They believe that they should be in charge of your laws, your country, your life, and they don’t care whether or not you agree.”
Rubio added: “Halfway across the world there’s an institution that calls itself the International Criminal Court. Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you haven’t. But chances are you don’t know the names of its judges, its prosecutors or its president. And you shouldn’t have to. But as we speak, the ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country.”
The announcement comes a month after three ICC judges filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in New York, alleging that the administration had placed unlawful sanctions on the organization. The United States has never signed the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty that established the ICC.
Relations between the U.S. and the court have varied by administration. Democratic administrations have cooperated with the ICC, while Republican administrations have been less receptive. The George W. Bush administration pushed back against the court’s attempt to investigate U.S. soldiers for their conduct in Afghanistan. More recently, the Trump administration has objected to the ICC’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza.