Kimberly Prost, a Canadian judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration along with two other ICC judges. The judges allege that the sanctions imposed on them went beyond the legal authority of the administration.
The lawsuit was submitted on Wednesday to the Southern District of New York. Experts view it as part of wider opposition to what they perceive as efforts by the Trump administration to undermine international law.
The case’s outcome could influence the U.S. government’s capacity to enforce sanctions against judges for rulings that it disputes.
“The suit argues that the sanctions represent an unauthorized act of retaliation,” said a lawyer representing the judges. A copy of the complaint was shared with The New York Times.
Prost is joined by Judges Reine Alapini-Gansou from Benin and Solomy Balungi Bossa from Uganda. This legal action came after the State Department sanctioned ICC judges in February 2025. The sanctions were linked to the court’s inquiries into conduct by Israelis and Americans.
Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC. Established in 2002 in The Hague, the court’s mandate is to prosecute severe international crimes like genocide.
In June, Secretary of State Marco Rubio added sanctions against four judges, including Alapini-Gansou and Bossa, due to warrants issued for Israeli leaders. Prost and her colleagues are challenging these sanctions, hoping to restrict governmental punitive measures against judicial decisions.
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