The United States has long supported temporary tribunals and other multilateral mechanisms set up to prosecute warlords and those responsible for crimes against humanity. It also has its own robust independent justice system that stands as a check to the other two branches of government on issues such as human rights. However, in December 2000 before the International Criminal Court (ICC) came into force, then President Bill Clinton cited “significant flaws” in the Rome Treaty as he advised his successor to refrain from submitting the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification.
“In particular,” he wrote: “We are concerned that when the court comes into existence, it will not only exercise authority over personnel of states that have ratified the treaty but also claim jurisdiction over personnel of states that have not.”
President Clinton noted that the U.S. should have the chance to “observe and assess the functioning of the court, over time” and since his term, presidents from both parties have refrained from joining the ICC, citing fundamental concerns regarding its encroachment on sovereignty.
These concerns have become amplified in recent years, noted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a recent Substack article:
“At first, it was marketed as a narrow backstop to prosecute the gravest crimes. Now the ICC and its allies seek a standing world tribunal with near-unlimited reach, empowered to override the courts and constitutions of the U.S. and other sovereign states—and to prosecute and arrest our citizens.”
In recent years, the ICC has claimed the right to prosecute and even imprison American servicemen and officials operating on behalf of America’s national interest, despite the U.S. not being a signatory. It has opened investigations into U.S. servicemen and intelligence officers that it has refused to close.
Secretary Rubio also cited a case of retaliation:
“When 12 U.S. senators wrote to the ICC prosecutor about their concerns, the prosecutor’s office accused them of crimes. … The ICC’s interfering with American military and law enforcement operations isn’t only a grave overreach of its purported authorities. It would mean the death of the U.S. as a sovereign and independent nation,” wrote Secretary Rubio.
This is why the U.S. is launching a whole of government effort and diplomatic campaign to sanction and dismantle the ICC.
“Those who benefit from American security must not stand idly by while those who provide that security are targeted.
No diplomatic option will be off-limits in the campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to Americans,” wrote Secretary Rubio.
U.S. President Donald Trump will always protect U.S. service members and citizens from threats of international aggression.