Federal judge blocks enforcement of Trump's order on ICC

19/7/2025 15:54

A federal judge blocked on Friday the enforcement of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order targeting those who work with the International Criminal Court.



The ruling follows an April lawsuit by two human rights advocates challenging Trump's February 6 order authorizing potentially far-reaching economic and travel sanctions on people who work on ICC investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies, such as Israel.



In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen called the executive order an unconstitutional infringement on free speech.



"The executive order appears to restrict substantially more speech than necessary to further that end," she wrote.



"The executive order broadly prohibits any speech-based services that benefit the prosecutor, regardless of whether those beneficial services relate to an ICC investigation of the United States, Israel, or another U.S. ally."



The executive order imposed sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who is British. The U.S. treasury department's Office of Foreign Assets Control also place him on a registry of sanctioned individuals and entities.