Judge bars Trump admin from imposing sanctions on US human rights advocates who work for International Criminal Court

Source: Law & Crime

Jul 19th, 2025, 1:24 pm


A federal judge in Maine on Friday barred the Trump administration from enforcing sanctions on two U.S. citizens and human rights advocates who work with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On April 11, Matthew Smith and Akila Radhakrishnan, a human rights nonprofit leader and lawyer, respectively, filed a 39-page lawsuit against President Donald Trump and several other members of his administration over an executive order that imposes sanctions on the ICC, prohibits certain interactions with designated ICC officials, and threatens both civil and criminal penalties for any such violations.

The lawsuit was premised on the idea that the sanctions "violate their First Amendment rights, and those of others like them, by prohibiting their constitutionally protected speech." The plaintiffs, in late April, requested a preliminary injunction barring the government "from imposing civil or criminal penalties on them" for "provision of speech-based services" to the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor (OTP).

Now, U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen, a Barack Obama appointee, has granted that requested relief in a 16-page order. "[T]he Executive Order appears to burden substantially more speech than necessary," the judge wrote. "Accordingly, the Plaintiffs have established likely success on the merits of their First Amendment challenge."

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/violates-the-first-amendment-judge-bars-trump-admin-from-imposing-sanctions-on-us-human-rights-advocates-who-work-for-international-criminal-court/