Press Release: NJAC Urges Federal Court to Dismiss ICC Judges' Challenge to U.S. Sanctions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2026
CONTACT:
National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC)
Phone: (332) 278-1100
Email: press@njaclaw.org
NJAC URGES FEDERAL COURT TO DISMISS ICC JUDGES’ CHALLENGE TO U.S. SANCTIONS
Amicus brief in Prost v. Trump argues that foreign nationals abroad cannot invoke the Constitution and that federal law plainly authorizes the sanctions
NEW YORK, NY — The National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) filed an amicus curiae brief on Wednesday urging a Manhattan federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by three judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who want an American court to extend them the protections of the U.S. Constitution and strike down the sanctions imposed on them. One of the three sat on the panel that issued the arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; the other two authorized the ICC’s investigation of American personnel in Afghanistan. The brief, filed with a motion for leave in Prost v. Trump, No. 26-cv-5305, before Judge Jesse M. Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, supports the federal government’s motion to dismiss.
The plaintiffs, ICC Judges Kimberly Prost, Solomy Balungi Bossa, and Reine Alapini-Gansou, are citizens of Canada, Uganda, and Benin who reside in The Hague. They ask the court to invalidate targeted economic sanctions imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and Executive Order 14203. According to the complaint, Judges Prost and Bossa sat on the 2020 Appeals Chamber ruling that authorized the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes in Afghanistan, including by U.S. forces, and Judge Alapini-Gansou sat on the chamber that issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
NJAC’s brief argues that none of the complaint’s counts survives. Foreign nationals living abroad cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment without substantial connections to the United States, and a New York bank account is not enough. On the statutory counts, designations under IEEPA implicate the Executive’s core national security and foreign-affairs functions, and Plaintiffs identify no additional procedure whose incremental value would justify burdening those functions.
On Tuesday, in a related challenge by two American advocacy groups, Judge Furman preliminarily enjoined the government from enforcing the order’s services prohibition against those groups’ advocacy. That ruling rested on the First Amendment rights of Americans, and it left both the government’s power to designate foreign persons and the order’s financial restrictions in place. The ICC judges are not Americans, they raise no First Amendment claim, and their complaint is built on frozen accounts and cancelled cards. The ruling that protects American speech leaves their case where it was.
The brief also points out that Congress settled the underlying question more than two decades ago. In the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, a statute the plaintiffs themselves invoke, Congress declared that the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, will not be bound by any of its terms, and will not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction over U.S. nationals.
The plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction has drawn an amicus brief from former U.S. ambassadors-at-large for war crimes issues and former prosecutors of international tribunals. NJAC’s brief gives the court the perspective of the people on the other end of the ICC’s conduct: Israeli citizens, whose elected leaders now face arrest in 125 countries, and American Jews,
The brief was filed by NJAC attorneys David J. Benger, Mark Goldfeder, and Bencion Schlager.
“The plaintiffs are asking an American court to extend the protections of the U.S. Constitution to foreign officials who live and work abroad, on the strength of a bank account,” said David J. Benger, Litigation Counsel at NJAC. “The Supreme Court said in 2020 that foreign citizens outside U.S. territory do not possess rights under the Constitution, and Congress gave the President clear authority to impose these sanctions. Every count in this complaint fails as a matter of law, and the court should dismiss it.”
“The United States never agreed to the Rome Statute, and Israel never agreed to the Rome Statute. Congress wrote that principle into law more than two decades ago,” said Mark Goldfeder, CEO of NJAC. “The ICC’s claim of jurisdiction over nations that never consented to it has already produced arrest warrants for Israel’s elected leaders. The court has heard from the ICC’s supporters; it should hear from the people these sanctions were written to protect.”
The National Jewish Advocacy Center is a nonprofit organization that harnesses the power of the legal system to advocate for and protect Jewish civil rights using creative, innovative strategies.
For media inquiries or assistance, contact press@njaclaw.org or (332) 278-1100. This press release can be found at http://njaclaw.org on the News tab.
# # #
Download the PDF
