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DAWN, TAAG sue in Manhattan
Two U.S. nonprofits, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG), sued the Trump administration in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday over sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Washington, DC – A new legal challenge is taking aim at the sanctions imposed by United States President Donald Trump’s administration on the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying they trample on the constitutional rights of US citizens”
The lawsuit challenges a February 2025 executive order that placed sanctions on ICC judges and prosecutors and Palestinian human rights groups seeking to investigate alleged U.S. and Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
DAWN and TAAG said the sanctions “violate Americans’ constitutional right to engage in Palestine-related” human rights advocacy and sought to bar the Trump administration from using the order “to prevent US citizens from supporting investigations into US and Israeli abuses,” according to CNN.
In a statement, DAWN executive director Omar Shakir said, “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,” as the case argued the restrictions also reach Americans’ ability to associate with sanctioned parties like Francesca Albanese.
Rubio vows dismantling ICC
The lawsuit landed as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the Trump administration would seek to dismantle the ICC, possibly through “travel bans, visa revocations, increased sanctions against the ICC and its affiliates, and diplomatic pressure on countries to withdraw from the ICC,” according to The New Republic.
CNN reported that Rubio vowed to use “all the tools at our government’s disposal” to “dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, if necessary,” while the organizations’ complaint argued the sanctions “unconstitutionally restrict Americans from seeking justice on Palestine at the ICC.”
The complaint described how DAWN and TAAG said they avoided filing submissions to the ICC and working with those hit by the sanctions, including Francesca Albanese, “out of fear of facing criminal charges themselves,” per The New Republic.
CNN also said the United States is not a member of the court, and while the U.S. signed the treaty that established the ICC in 2000, it did not ratify it, framing the dispute over U.S. authority and advocacy access.
Chilling effect and legal stakes
The lawsuit says the sanctions have forced DAWN to halt work on submissions to the ICC about Israel’s conduct during the war, stop exchanging evidence and legal analysis with sanctioned non-government organizations, and discontinue professional engagements with Albanese, according to the Boston Herald.
It also quotes the lawsuit’s warning that “The chilling effect on Plaintiffs has been profound,” adding that plaintiffs “now face prison terms and ruinous fines” if they provide or receive anything that defendants could characterize as a “service,” the Boston Herald reported.
The Guardian said the complaint argues the sanctions package has had a “profound” chilling effect on Palestine-related advocacy, compelling Americans to sever professional relationships and abandon constitutionally protected work.
In the Guardian’s account, the suit names Trump; Rubio; Scott Bessent; Todd Blanche; and Brad Smith, and it includes Kenneth Roth’s statement that it is “blatantly unconstitutional for Trump to threaten American citizens and residents for assisting such efforts.”
