U.S. Court Agrees Trump Administration's ICC Sanctions Likely Violate First Amendment Rights Of Fortify Rights CEO
The preliminary injunction prohibits the administration from punishing the two advocates for their work related to the ICC while the litigation is pending.
'I'm grateful the court recognized the serious threat this executive order against the ICC poses to fundamental freedoms and to our ability to pursue accountability for mass atrocity crimes,' said Matthew Smith. 'This case is not only about our rights — it's about safeguarding the space for all human rights defenders to advocate for justice, speak truth to power, and demand international accountability without fear of reprisal.'
Both Smith and Radhakrishnan are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—a leading American organization that defends and promotes individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. As the lawsuit explains, the sanctions violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by prohibiting Smith, Radhakrishnan, and other Americans like them from speaking with the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor, including by providing legal advice, expert analysis, and evidence.
'Preventing our clients and others like them from doing critical human rights work with the ICC is unconstitutional, and we're heartened that the court saw that as well,' said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project. 'The First Amendment does not allow the government to impose sweeping limits on what Americans can say and who they can say it to.'
Under the executive order, people in the U.S. who have devoted their lives to seeking justice for the victims of atrocities — like the genocide of Myanmar's Rohingya people, or gender-based violence committed against Afghan women under the Taliban — could face stiff penalties simply for exercising their constitutional right to engage and advocate with ICC investigators and prosecutors.
The international community, including the United States, established the ICC in 1998 to help maintain international peace and security. The ICC investigates and prosecutes crimes of the severest magnitude — including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes — when domestic courts are unwilling or unable to do so. Today, 125 countries have joined the ICC's founding treaty, known as the Rome Statute. As the lawsuit explains, although the United States has not ratified the Rome Statute, it has supported the ICC's critical work on a wide range of matters.
'Fighting this order isn't only a defense of the work I do, or the court itself,' wrote Matthew Smith in an op-ed published June 6 in the New York Times. 'It's also a statement about what kind of country we want to be.'
On Friday last week, the New York Times referred to the court's decision to grant a preliminary injunction 'a striking, if tentative, blow to the president's efforts to penalize and isolate the world's highest criminal court.'
For more information about the lawsuit, please see the ACLU's webpage devoted to Smith v. Trump.
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Photo / WVTM Investigators took notice of a structure behind the house that Wade said initially looked like a carport but had a rear door leading to an underground storm shelter. There they found a dirty mattress, a fan, and other furniture. A little over two months later, Dalton Terrell, 21, a high school classmate of McElroy who lived near the bunker, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of rape, sodomy, and human trafficking. According to an April 29 complaint, Terrell admitted to investigators that he had abused six children and that he 'gave money to two adults to use the children'. Wade has said Terrell's co-operation blew open the investigation. The next day, Trejo-Velazquez, 29, was arrested and charged with six counts of human trafficking. Three of the victims were his own children, while a fourth was his partner's daughter, according to court records. 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'This conduct appears calculated to poison the jury pool and may make it impossible to seat a fair and impartial jury in rural Bibb County,' Albea said, adding it 'also risks further harm' to the alleged victims 'by placing sensitive allegations in the public eye prematurely'. Attorneys for the other six defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. All seven are being held without bond at the Bibb County Jail and have not yet entered pleas. Wade said in a July 28 radio interview that some defendants are co-operating with the investigation. 'I think the longer they have time to sit there and maybe repent … we'll get the answers to all the questions that we have to better serve these children,' the sheriff said. The allegations have left many in the community questioning what might've been missed. Wade said last week that the victims attended school and participated in other routine functions – a comment that has sparked scrutiny over whether teachers or others noticed and reported anything. The superintendent of Bibb County Schools did not respond to a request for comment. A playground sits on the campus of Brent Elementary School. Photo / The Washington Post Months before Wade says their office was tipped off about possible abuse by a DHR caseworker, court records show the agency removed four children from Brewer and Trejo-Velazquez's home and placed them in DHR custody. Though it is unclear when the removal happened, records suggest it took place around the time Brewer filed an August 1, 2024, domestic claim against Trejo-Velazquez. Records about that allegation are not public, but a court docket notation describes the case as 'protection' from abuse. In October, an attorney for DHR filed claims against both Brewer and Trejo-Velazquez seeking to garnish any income or financial assistance to help pay for the children's care. Brewer was unemployed, but that December, a judge approved the state's efforts to garnish Trejo-Velazquez's income from a construction firm. Brewer's complaint against Trejo-Velazquez was ultimately dismissed because neither appeared in court. By February, DHR filed petitions in Bibb County to drop the financial claims, writing to the court that the children were no longer in state custody and were back with their parents. A circuit court judge dismissed the cases on March 18, about a month before Trejo-Velazquez was arrested. It's unclear when the children were placed back into state custody. Speaking to reporters, Wade said that so far he believes only those with direct knowledge of the alleged trafficking operation were aware the children were being abused. But Carolyn Potter, a longtime child advocate who is the chief executive of the WellHouse, an Alabama-based nonprofit that operates one of the largest residential treatment programs for trafficking survivors in the country, is sceptical of claims there were no signs. She said people in rural communities beset by poverty are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked by relatives or others with family connections. That's especially true in areas that are less vigorously patrolled by law enforcement, she said. Forty-seven per cent of Brent lives below the poverty level. Identifying trauma in children can also be difficult, Potter said. Teachers often play a key role in reporting possible abuse, given the close bonds they form with their students, she added. Last week, a former Bibb County teacher told Birmingham's WBMA that she repeatedly reported concerns about one of her students during the 2023-24 academic year to school administrators. The student, believed to be one of the victims, showed signs of neglect, including poor hygiene, had chronic absences and exhibited developmental issues, the former teacher told the station, adding that her complaints went nowhere. Terry, the minister who was also a former Bibb County High School teacher and coach until he retired last year, said that teachers undergo mandatory reporting training with DHR representatives. But he also recalled instances in which teachers reported possible abuse and said sometimes, 'nothing happens'. He feared teachers would face criticism for not spotting the alleged abuse in these cases, which he said would be unfair. 'Teachers have too much to do. … They're already being mom and dad and aunt and uncle. And they're being doctor and they're being counsellor and they are being so many different things that they're already doing,' he said. 'These teachers, they love these kids like they're their own.' 'Absolutely shattered' Residents gathered on the lawn of the Bibb County Courthouse two days after Wade's news conference to pray for the victims, law enforcement, the community and each other. Many were angry. They saw the notes on social media calling for things like vigilante justice for the suspects. 'Why do we even need a trial?' one person posted on Facebook. Mike Oakley, the mayor of Centreville, had leapt into action, organising vigils and other public events because he wanted people here to talk and reflect. 'When this happens, you're literally shocked like a punch in the face, a community punch in a face,' he said. Deep down, Oakley knew the small-town experience wasn't the same for everybody. Many in Brent and Centreville now commute into Birmingham and Tuscaloosa instead of working in town and getting to know their neighbours. 'In the South, we are all about being front porch people, knowing our neighbours, talking to them,' he said. 'We need to be that way again.' Concerned residents gather at the Friendship Lodge near the Bibb County Courthouse in Centreville. Photo / The Washington Post But first, they needed to pray. They prayed outside the courthouse, where the defendants will appear before a judge in coming weeks. Inside the church the following evening, they sat in small groups praying for everybody involved – some grudgingly, including the accused. Ellinghaus, who grew up in Brent, kept thinking about another event in her small city that made national news 52 years ago. In May 1973, the town took a direct hit from one of the most violent tornadoes to ever hit the state. It destroyed 90% of the city, including her childhood home. Many people lost everything. A memorial along Main St marks the date, describing Brent as a city 'proven by tempest'. But Ellinghaus worried the allegations of child sex abuse and trafficking, if proved, could end up being more damaging to the city than the tornado. 'People are just absolutely shattered over this,' she said. ' … No one thought anything like this could happen here.
