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Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act
HR 23
Dusty Wilson
January 16, 2025
What is this bill?
HR 23, sponsored by Chip Roy (R-TX-21)
This bill would impose sanctions on the ICC, as well as individuals or entities working on their behalf, if they attempt to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute an American citizen or a citizen of an American ally that did not sign the Rome Statute (the treaty that recognizes the ICC’s authority).
In particular, this law is a response to the ICC filing arrest warrants against Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu & Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant due to various war crimes and acts of genocide.
The act states that if the ICC attempts any of the aforementioned actions, that the President is required to block the visas & freeze the assets of the people doing the actions (or anyone who “materially assisted”), as well as block the visas of their immediate family.
A final addendum is that if these sanctions are enacted, then all federal funding sent to the ICC is rescinded and future funding is prohibited. This last bit is odd, since the ICC has never received financial funding from America.
Why is this bill fascist?
America and the ICC have never had a great relationship. The ICC was founded by the UN in 1998 following the signing of the Rome Statute by 137 countries. The goal was to create a world court that could arrest world leaders for the particular crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
America had been one of the initial signatories in 2000, but due to President Bill Clinton failing to submit the treaty to the Senate, it allowed President George W. Bush to rescind the signature in 2002. President Barack Obama opened up channels between the US and the ICC, but to this day America still isn’t a part of the ICC.
In particular, the Heritage Foundation is adamantly against the US ever joining the ICC, stating that such a world court is unconstitutional and that any charges brought up by the ICC could not be enforced against American citizens. Hillary Clinton also stated in 2005 that America’s “global responsibilities…create unique circumstances…we are more vulnerable to the misuse of an international criminal court because of the international role we play and the resentments that flow from that ubiquitous presence around the world.”
While there can be, and has been, much argument over whether or not Americans should be able to be charged by the ICC, this bill takes the issue a step further by including all citizens of US allied nations that aren’t members. Of the 40 allies (as defined in 22 USC 7432), only Egypt & Israel would be included by this law.
What makes this law particularly fascist is that it directly protects other fascists. The goal of the bill is clear in protecting Netanyahu and Gallant, and by issuing these sorts of sanctions, the Trump administration gains another tool to undermine the ICC and protect fellow fascists.
The longstanding view that America is immune from the ICC’s justice speaks to line item 7 of Eco’s Ur-Fascism: the fear that the ICC will plot against America for it’s own gain. And if Eco’s 9th facet of fascism, that a nation must be in a constant state of warfare (whether it’s Mexico or Greenland or Palestine), then that heavily increases the chance of the ICC becoming involved & increases the importance of fascists weakening the ICC’s influence now.
Which Dems voted for it?
House (45 Dems)
Did it pass?