Judge Blocks Trump Administration's Sanctions on 2 Groups Aiding the I.C.C.

The ruling prevents the administration from penalizing two rights groups for working to provide information for the International Criminal Court's war crimes investigations.

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from penalizing two U.S.-based organizations supporting the International Criminal Court's investigations into alleged war crimes in Gaza. President Trump imposed sanctions on the court last year.

Judge Jesse M. Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by the two organizations -- Democracy for the Arab World Now, known as DAWN, and Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide, or TAAG -- which said that Mr. Trump's executive order placing sanctions on the I.C.C. violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment.

That February 2025 order directed federal agencies to "impose tangible and significant consequences" on people who worked on investigations that the Trump administration said threatened the national security of the United States and its allies, including Israel.

Mr. Trump imposed the sanctions after the court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The court said they had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu's office and the United States have rejected the accusations.

The plaintiffs involved in Tuesday's ruling are rights groups that had worked to gather information for the I.C.C. as it investigates allegations of war crimes against Palestinians.

In his ruling, Judge Furman said he issued the injunction because the groups were likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claims.

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