Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that the United States would be sanctioning the International Criminal Court, an announcement that left countless critics in shock.
As noted by journalist Evan Dyer, the announcement came just hours after Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, 85, a South African jurist and former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Trump administration has worked to “dismantle” the ICC in recent months, ramping up those efforts in the wake of the international body issuing arrest warrants for multiple Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was accused of intentionally targeting civilians and using starvation as a method of war.
The United States has been opposed to the ICC for decades; however, former President George W. Bush signed a bill in 2002 that permits the U.S. military to invade the ICC headquarters in the Netherlands to rescue American officials and military personnel should they be imprisoned for war crimes.
“What a coward this man is,” wrote Yousef Munayyer, a political analyst, writer and Palestinian rights advocate. “He is attacking the ICC for Netanyahu, even Trump told us all this much. But Rubio is too spineless to admit this so he pretends it is about protecting the US from the ICC.”
Dean Blundell, a Canadian broadcaster and podcaster, suggested the announcement was deliberately timed before the midterms to preempt revelations from probes a Democratic-controlled Congress could launch.
“The United States of war crimes and crimes against humanity is very f------ afraid of losing the midterms,” Blundell wrote. “Insane.”
Should the U.S. sanctions on the ICC prove successful at dismantling the international body, legal scholar Ryan Goodman previously argued that some of the world’s most notorious mass killers could be forced to be released.
Among those who could be freed is former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who was charged earlier this year with crimes against humanity, including murder and attempted murder. Duterte was accused by ICC prosecutors of at least 76 murders, “including the killings of children.”
Should the ICC be dismantled, those being held by the court who have not yet exhausted all of their rights to appeal may be forced to be released.
Today, the Trump Administration is sanctioning the ICC.This action should encourage our Allies within the Court to work for solutions to end this threat to U.S. sovereignty forever. https://t.co/D86dCqLUaZ
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) October 9, 2026
