In the same announcement, the Court named Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, but his warrant barely registered in Washington. It was the inclusion of U.S. allies that broke the rules.
The United States has never joined the ICC. Clinton signed the Rome Statute but left it unratified. Bush unsigned it. Congress passed the so-called “Hague Invasion Act” in 2002, formally the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, allowing the president to use “all means necessary” to free Americans from ICC detention. Trump didn’t rewrite that history—he weaponized it.
“There can be no impunity. Not for the powerful. Not for the privileged.” — Fatou Bensouda, former ICC Prosecutor
Executive Order 14203 used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare open season on the court’s network. ICC personnel were not only blacklisted; American lawyers and researchers were warned they could face criminal exposure for offering “material support.” Universities paused fellowships. A Yale-led project documenting child abductions in Ukraine, funded through a U.S. State Department–supported grant administered by Yale Law School’s Lowenstein Project, lost its federal funding following legal review by institutional counsel, according to a spokesperson familiar with the matter.
Two U.S. attorneys sued. Their argument was simple: the order chilled their protected speech. On July 18, 2025, U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen agreed. Her preliminary injunction, in Smith v. U.S. Department of State, halted enforcement against the plaintiffs and described the order as dangerously broad.
“The government may not suppress speech simply because it fears consequences abroad.” — Judge Torresen
The broader sanctions, however, remain in place. That uncertainty has sent ripples through legal advocacy networks. Amal Clooney, who advised the Court on the Gaza investigation, reportedly received informal U.S. travel warnings from State Department officials, according to a legal aide in her chambers. The American Bar Association issued a rare rebuke, calling the sanctions “a threat to judicial independence.” In Europe, leaders began questioning how much longer they could treat the ICC as untouchable if Washington no longer did.
The administration stood by its position. Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former Secretary of State, wrote that the court was “not accountable to the American people” and accused it of “politicized lawfare.” For Trump, it was a campaign talking point: the Hague was the swamp, globalist and hostile. But the effect was more than rhetorical. Within days, financial institutions were dropping clients linked to the Court. Legal aid groups paused all ICC coordination.
“U.S. sanctions on the ICC are hindering efforts to locate and repatriate abducted children.” — Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadóttir, Council of Europe envoy
Inside the Court, morale cracked. Staff reported being disinvited from conferences. Travel approvals were delayed or denied. Contracts were renegotiated to exclude U.S.-based services. And when Karim Khan stepped aside temporarily in May, officially citing “internal procedural matters,” multiple sources noted that the leave coincided with a sealed misconduct complaint under investigation by a UN-appointed panel. While the nature of the allegations remains confidential, Khan has denied wrongdoing through a spokesperson.