The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit from two US advocacy groups, alleging that sanctions targeting Palestinian rights organizations and a UN expert violate Americans’ first amendment rights.
The groups, Democracy in the Arab World Now and the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide, claim that the sanctions have compelled Americans to sever professional relationships and abandon constitutionally protected work. Omar Shakir, executive director of Democracy in the Arab World Now, said the administration is using economic sanctions to police the political expression of millions of Americans.
They have worked on International Criminal Court submissions documenting Israeli war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza.
Dawn has also worked with the three sanctioned Palestinian NGOs and Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur, to publish research and lobby US policymakers. Each of these activities is protected speech and association, squarely within the First Amendment’s heartland.
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If either group continues this work, American employees could face criminal prosecution and civil penalties under Donald Trump’s executive order 14203.
The suit comes two days after Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, threatened to go beyond sanctions and dismantle the entire international court.
Akila Radhakrishnan, an international human rights lawyer, said she had to stop certain aspects of her work supporting affected populations around the world due to the sanctions. The US attacks have disrupted the ecosystem for international justice, devastating victims’ prospects for justice the world over.
Radhakrishnan’s lawsuit and the latest New York filing claim that Trump’s ICC sanctions exceed the limits of his presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
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The law exempts noncommercial personal communications from sanctions. The lawsuit names Trump, Rubio, Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, and Brad Smith, director of the office of foreign assets control, as defendants.
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said it is blatantly unconstitutional for Trump to threaten American citizens and residents for assisting efforts to bring Israeli officials to justice for genocide and war crimes.
The lawsuit describes the sanctions measures as hopelessly ineffective at achieving Trump’s stated objective of halting baseless ICC prosecutions. Suppressing advocates’ speech does nothing to prevent ICC prosecutors from conducting their own investigations.
As the lawsuit moves forward, it may set a precedent for the use of economic sanctions and their impact on free speech. The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to free speech and association, and the court’s decision will have significant implications for these rights.
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