DAWN and the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide are suing the Trump administration in federal court in Manhattan, calling sanctions on the International Criminal Court "crippling" to their advocacy for Palestinians, according to The Guardian and Reuters.

The lawsuit targets an executive order President Trump signed in February 2025 that branded the ICC's war-crimes case against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over the Gaza war as illegitimate, and bars Americans from providing or receiving services with anyone the administration has sanctioned over ties to the court, per The Times of Israel.

DAWN says the order has forced it to halt evidence-sharing with sanctioned Palestinian rights groups and cut off cooperation with UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who is herself under US sanctions, according to France 24. The suit asks a court to strike the restrictions down.

It is the first direct US legal test of Washington's year-old sanctions campaign against the court, which has also hit ICC officials and frozen assets tied to the tribunal, per Arab News. The ICC has no police force and relies on outside cooperation — squeezing the US advocacy groups that feed it evidence is one of the few levers Washington has to blunt cases touching allies like Israel.

A ruling against the sanctions would weaken that lever and reaffirm free-speech protections for groups working with the court. A ruling for the administration would signal that Washington can use sanctions law to isolate any international tribunal it disagrees with — a precedent other governments facing ICC scrutiny would notice too.