International Criminal Court judges say US sanctions are tantamount to a “financial death penalty” as they sue the Trump administration.By World Israel News StaffThree sitting judges of the International Criminal Court have sued the Trump administration in US federal court, arguing that sanctions imposed on them over ICC investigations involving Israel and the United States are unlawful and amount to a “financial death penalty.”Judges Kimberly Prost of Canada, Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.They are challenging sanctions imposed under President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order targeting ICC officials involved in investigations of US nationals or nationals of US allies, including Israel.The lawsuit says the sanctions have frozen assets, cut the judges off from banking services and sharply restricted ordinary activities.“Being subjected to such sanctions under IEEPA is tantamount to the financial death penalty,” the complaint says.According to the filing, the judges are no longer able to use credit cards, access banking services, use common online platforms such as Amazon and Google, book travel and, in some cases, obtain health insurance.The sanctions were imposed as part of Trump’s broader campaign against the ICC after the court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, and after earlier ICC activity related to alleged crimes by US personnel in Afghanistan.The White House order declared that ICC actions against the US and Israel posed a threat to American sovereignty and national security.It said the court had “abused its power” by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Netanyahu and Gallant, and argued that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the US or Israel because neither is a party to the Rome Statute.Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions in June 2025 against four ICC judges: Bossa, Alapini-Gansou, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru and Beti Hohler of Slovenia. Rubio said the judges had participated in what he called the court’s “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel.”“As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel,” Rubio said at the time.The new lawsuit argues that the administration exceeded its authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the law used to justify the sanctions.The judges say there was no genuine national emergency and that the sanctions were designed to pressure judges over their rulings.“The Sanctions Regime … is designed to exert extra-judicial pressure on these judges and their colleagues on the ICC bench,” the complaint says.The filing says the measures are intended to punish the judges for past judicial decisions and coerce them into prioritizing their private interests over deciding cases according to the law and facts.The Open Society Justice Initiative, which was established by left-wing billionaire George Soros, is representing the judges and denounced the sanctions an attack on judicial independence.“Targeting international judges for carrying out their judicial duties is an unprecedented attack on judicial independence and the rule of law,” said James A. Goldston, the group’s executive director.A White House official defended the sanctions, telling Reuters that Trump lawfully used his authority under IEEPA to address “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States involving the International Criminal Court.”A State Department official declined to comment on the pending litigation but told Reuters that the ICC continues to “present a threat to our sovereignty and our national interests.”“The Trump administration will never allow unelected foreign judges to dictate terms to the United States,” the official said.The post ICC judges file federal lawsuit against Trump over sanctions appeared first on World Israel News.