The International Humanitarian Law Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association co-sponsored a virtual event with the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights on Wednesday, February 3, 2021, titled “The Folly of U.S. Sanctions Against the International Criminal Court.”

The speakers included:

• Gabor Rona, Professor of Practice and Director of CLIHHR Law and Armed Conflict Project at Cardozo Law School
• Betsy Apple, Advocacy Director and Head of the Rule of Law Division at Open Society Justice Initiative
• Andrew Loewenstein, Partner at Foley Hoag
• Beth Van Schaack, Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor of Human Rights at Stanford Law School
• Adam Smith, Partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher

Since the inception of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998, the United States has had both hostile and cooperative relations with the ICC. The Trump administration took hostility to a new level, imposing legal sanctions on the Court’s high-level officials in the same way the government imposes civil and criminal sanctions against those who provide material support to terrorists. This panel explored the state of litigation challenging these sanctions, and how and why the incoming administration’s approach to the ICC might differ from that of its predecessor.