US judge blocks Trump sanctions targeting human rights lawyers

A US judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction that will block sanctions by the Trump administration against human rights lawyers for supporting the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In June 2020, Donald Trump had authorised sanctions and visa restrictions on the personnel of the ICC which was investigating alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by both US and Afghan forces alongside a probe into crimes against humanity by the Taliban.

The order had noted that anyone who has “directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any US personnel without the consent of the US,” may be subject to the new sanctions.

The injunction was issued by the US district judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan in a case filed in October 2020 by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), a New York-based human rights group, and four law professors, Diane Marie Amann, Gabor Rona, Milena Sterio, and Margaret deGuzman.  

They had argued that the Trump administration’s order violates constitutional rights, including the freedom of speech, and prevents them from carrying out work in support of international justice while noting that it irreparably harms their professional work.

Ms Failla said the plaintiffs would likely succeed in showing that Trump’s order unconstitutionally stifled their speech, resulting in irreparable harm.

“The court is mindful of the government’s interest in defending its foreign policy prerogatives and maximising the efficacy of its policy tools. Nevertheless, national-security concerns must not become a talisman used to ward off inconvenient claims,” Ms Failla wrote in her order.

Andrew Loewenstein, who is the lawyer for the OSJI and the law professors, said the plaintiffs were “thrilled” that the judge considered the sanctions a “gross infringement” of their First Amendment rights.

While James Goldston, executive director of the OSJI, noted that the preliminary injunction “affirms what we have said from the start: the executive order is misguided and unconstitutional, violating our fundamental rights to free speech.”

Mr Goldston said that “rather than spending time defending an order in direct conflict with Washington’s historic support for international justice, the incoming administration should rescind it on day one.”

Trump administration has been vocal against the ICC and its officials for some time now. In 2019, it had revoked the visa of the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.

Before the Trump administration authorised the imposition of sanctions in June 2020, the secretary of state Mike Pompeo had cautioned the ICC against illegitimate investigations. Subsequently, in September 2020, the US administration sanctioned Ms Bensouda.  

Additional reporting by agencies