US judge blocks Trump administration sanctions on human rights groups supporting Gaza war crimes investigation

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from imposing sanctions on two US-based human rights organizations for assisting the International Criminal Court (ICC) with its investigations into alleged war crimes in Gaza. In a 30-page order issued on Tuesday, Jesse M Furman, a judge at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, granted a preliminary injunction in favor of Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) and Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (Taag).

The two organizations filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration this summer, challenging an executive order issued in February 2025 that introduced sanctions targeting the ICC. The executive order warned that the US government would impose tangible and significant consequences on individuals involved in investigations that Washington considered threats to US national security or that of its allies, including Israel.

The order followed the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The court accused both men of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Netanyahu and Gallant have rejected the accusations, while the US government has also opposed the ICC's decision to issue the warrants. In his ruling, Furman referred to a separate lawsuit filed last year by two law professors challenging the 2025 executive order. In that case, the court found that the order violated those plaintiffs’ first amendment rights because it constituted a content-based regulation of their speech-based activities and did not survive strict scrutiny.

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Furman said Dawn and Taag, which he described as American advocacy organizations, had presented a substantially similar challenge. He noted that the organizations were contesting the executive order on both statutory and constitutional grounds, re-upping many of the arguments made in the earlier cases. Both groups have worked to collect information for the ICC as it investigated allegations of war crimes against Palestinians. In his latest decision, Furman wrote, “The court concludes that the 2025 order likely violates plaintiffs’ first amendment rights because it constitutes a content-based regulation of their speech-based activities and cannot survive strict scrutiny."

However, the judge stopped short of declaring the executive order facially unconstitutional. He also rejected the organizations' request to enjoin the president and to enter a ‘universal’ injunction barring enforcement of the 2025 order against anyone. A spokesperson for the US State Department told the Guardian. “we do not comment on pending litigation”. The spokesperson added, “The Trump administration has been clear: the ICC poses an intolerable threat to US sovereignty.”

Joseph Pace, a lawyer representing Dawn and Taag, welcomed the decision, describing it as a victory for the first amendment and an important step in unraveling the ICC sanctions regime. Omar Shakir, Dawn's executive director, also welcomed the ruling in a statement, saying, “Today, a US federal court has put the brakes in a major way on the Trump administration’s efforts to shield from justice the Israeli officials who have perpetrated a genocide and their US backers.” Dawn subsequently announced that it would immediately resume its advocacy with the ICC to prosecute Israeli and American perpetrators of grave crimes.