A federal court in New York has summoned US President Donald Trump to respond to a lawsuit brought by three sitting judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who accuse his administration of punishing them with sweeping sanctions for their work on investigations involving Israel and the United States.
The summons, issued on Thursday by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, requires the government to respond within 60 days to a complaint filed a day earlier by judges Kimberly Prost of Canada, Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin.https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sanctioned-icc-judges-sue-trump-us-over-attack-judicial-independence
The case names Trump as the lead defendant, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
It also names the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which maintains the sanctions list, and its director, Bradley Smith.
It is the first time that ICC judges have personally gone to court to challenge their designation under Executive Order 14203, which Trump signed on 6 February 2025.
A federal prosecutor fired last year over critical comments he had written as a private citizen...
