Senate Democrats blocked legislation to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court officials for seeking to arrest members of Israel’s leadership over the country’s war with Hamas Tuesday afternoon.
The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act failed to pass a procedural hurdle during a vote of 54 to 45 with Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman being the lone Democrat to back the legislation. The legislation would require President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on members of the ICC for any attempt to “investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute” U.S. citizens or citizens of U.S. allies that do not recognize the international court’s jurisdiction, according to the bill text.
While the ICC is targeting Israeli leaders today, it could easily set its sights on Americans – and American soldiers in particular – tomorrow. Last year, I committed to putting this bill on the floor when Republicans were in the majority. Today, I’m following through on that… pic.twitter.com/UwfjKM5J68
— Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) January 28, 2025
Newly-elected Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, formerly House lawmakers, opposed the bill despite voting for the legislation when it was considered by the House in June 2024.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer defended tanking the bill while acknowledging the ICC unfairly targets Israel.
“The ICC bill is one I largely support and would like to see become law,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon. “As much as I oppose the ICC’s deep bias against Israel … the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic.”
“The bill as drafted would enable sanctions against American companies who have contracts to support the ICC’s technology functions,” Schumer alleged.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who promised to bring ICC sanction legislation to the floor last November if Republicans regained control of the Senate, called the ICC an “unlawful court” Tuesday and spoke about the necessity of advancing this legislation to Trump’s desk.
“This illegitimate targeting of a key U.S. ally should concern all of us,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. “While the ICC is targeting Israelis today, it could easily set its sight on Americans — and American soldiers in particular — tomorrow.”
“Any entity that would put the leader of Israel and the leader of Hamas in the same bucket and treat them the same doesn’t know right from wrong,” Republican Idaho Sen. James Risch, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during the Senate Republicans’ leadership conference Tuesday afternoon. “We won’t tolerate the corruption there.”
The bill was originally introduced in the House by Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy and passed the lower chamber 243-140 on Jan. 9 with just 45 House Democrats supporting the legislation.
The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC and do not recognize the court’s authority or honor its arrest warrants.
The legislation was taken up in response to the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last November after determining that both men violated international law while overseeing Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
President Trump notably authorized sanctions on ICC officials in 2020, but former President Biden rescinded the sanctions upon taking office.
A Thune spokesperson did not immediately respond to the the Daily Caller News Foundation’s inquiry about whether the majority leader plans to reconsider the bill with amendments to secure Democratic lawmakers’ support.
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