The Department of Justice has asserted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction over Americans. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a letter addressed to ICC President, Judge Tomoko Akane, declaring that the U.S. is not involved in the Rome Statute and does not have a history of consenting to ICC authority.
“The ICC has acted in an increasingly lawless and illegitimate manner,” Blanche wrote, explaining that the ICC has “disregarded its own complementarity requirement, and pursued investigations that appear driven as much by political pressure and institutional self-interest as by legal merit.”
“Its record of selective enforcement and credible allegations of internal misconduct raise serious doubts about the ICC’s impartiality, credibility, and legitimacy. The United States will not recognize or submit to the authority of a body that claims powers it does not possess and exercises the authorities it purports to have in a selective manner, untethered to fairness or legal principle.”
“The Department of Justice is fully committed to defending our Nation’s sovereignty and protecting the rights of U.S. persons against unlawful international overreach,” the letter adds. “Our Constitution — the supreme law of the land — vests the judicial power of the United States in its own courts, and our legal system is the envy of the world. The United States will not subordinate the liberty and security of our people to a foreign tribunal in The Hague with no accountability to any electorate or fidelity to the Constitution.”
The United States has previously attempted to sanction an ICC official, although the move was blocked by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. Upon imposing the sanctions in July 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that Albanese has participated in “illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [the International Criminal Court] action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”
According to the judge, the Trump administration violated Albanese’s First Amendment rights, as the sanctions targeted her speech criticizing Israel.
