Human rights

Inside the Trump Administration's War on The Hague

In the name of national sovereignty, the U.S. government is trying to ban foreign governments—and American citizens—from voluntarily working with a war crimes tribunal.

Matthew Petti | 10.12.2026 9:45 AM

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The Nobel Peace Prize announcement last week was an awkward moment in U.S.-European relations. The Nobel Committee in Norway awarded the prize to Navi Pillay, a South African judge who used to lead the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Hours later, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced yet another round of economic sanctions against the court, vowing to "end the ICC." Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, whose country hosts the ICC, told reporters that he would use "every available means to protect the functioning of the court." And several other U.S. allies issued statements supporting the ICC.

Just before the Nobel showdown, a lawsuit by Americans challenging the anti-ICC campaign moved forward. Matthew Smith, a researcher who provided information to the ICC about atrocities in Myanmar, and Akila Radhakrishnan, a lawyer who had been helping the ICC prosecute the Taliban's crimes against women, have sued President Donald Trump over Executive Order 14203, a February 2025 measure banning Americans from providing "services" to the ICC. Smith and Radhakrishnan argue that the order violates their First Amendment right to share facts and analysis. On September 28, a judge ruled that there is a "strong likelihood" that this is correct, allowing the case to proceed.

The campaign against the ICC has many ironies. One is that Rubio himself used to sing the court's praises. As a senator, he cosponsored a 2022 resolution demanding that the ICC prosecute the Russian invasion of Ukraine and applauding the tribunal's mission "to uphold the rule of law, especially in areas where no rule of law exists." A bigger irony is that, in the name of protecting national sovereignty, the administration is trying to restrict both the decisions other nations can make and the ability of Americans to communicate across borders. And Trump has made it clear that these actions are to protect a foreign country.

Executive Order 14203 begins by condemning the ICC's "illegitimate and........

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