Senate Democrats Block Legislation To Impose Sanctions On International Court For Seeking To Arrest Netanyahu

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.

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.