Lawsuit claims sanctions have ‘profound’ chilling effect on protected speech
Two US advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, alleging that the administration’s sanctions targeting Palestinian rights organizations, International Criminal Court officials, and a UN expert have violated the First Amendment rights of Americans.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, argues that the sanctions have had a “profound” chilling effect on Palestine-related advocacy, compelling Americans to sever professional relationships and abandon constitutionally protected work. The plaintiffs are Democracy in the Arab World Now (Dawn), a Washington-based advocacy group focused on US foreign policy in the Middle East, and the New York-based Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide.
“The Trump administration is using the blunt instrument of economic sanctions not only to punish human rights defenders but to police the political expression of millions of Americans,” said Omar Shakir, executive director of Dawn, in a statement.
The 43-page complaint notes that both organizations have worked on ICC submissions documenting Israeli war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza. Dawn has also worked with the three sanctioned Palestinian NGOs and Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights, to publish research, convene conferences, and lobby US policymakers. “Each of these activities is protected speech and association, squarely within the First Amendment’s heartland,” the lawsuit states.
The suit comes two days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to go beyond sanctions and dismantle the entire International Criminal Court.
The lawsuit also argues that the sanctions exceed the limits of President Trump’s authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, noting that the law exempts noncommercial “personal communications” from sanctions. “If the Executive is permitted to blow past constitutional and statutory restraints here, there is little to stop it from weaponizing IEEPA to target other disfavored viewpoints,” the complaint says.
The suit names Trump, Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Office of Foreign Assets Control Director Brad Smith as defendants.
Several US legal experts who have already sued the administration on similar grounds voiced support for the claims. “I had to stop certain aspects of my work supporting affected populations around the world,” said Akila Radhakrishnan, an international human rights lawyer who sued the administration last year for halting her work advising the ICC on sexual and gender-based violence claims. “The US attacks have disrupted the ecosystem for international justice, devastating victims’ prospects for justice the world over.”
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that “it is blatantly unconstitutional for Trump to threaten American citizens and residents for assisting such efforts.”
The lawsuit also describes the sanctions as “hopelessly ineffective” at achieving Trump’s stated objective of halting “baseless” ICC prosecutions, arguing that suppressing advocates’ speech does not prevent ICC prosecutors from conducting their own investigations.