On a November evening in Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio used a Federalist Society stage to argue that America should answer to no tribunal above its own sovereignty. The target was the International Criminal Court, the Hague-based body built after the horrors of the last century to hold individuals accountable for atrocity, and his words placed it within a longer quarrel over whether law between nations can bind the strongest among them. Coming weeks after a bruising midterm defeat for his party, the speech also carried the unspoken question of his own ambitions, which he has publi
Rubio Attacks International Criminal Court, Vows US Will Not Submit to 'Global Bureaucrats'
"Stop quoting laws to men with swords."
Mark
Why does a speech to a legal group matter this much?
Mimi
Because it ties a concrete policy, sanctions on the ICC taking effect in April, to a stated philosophy. Rubio said the US will not submit to the court's authority.
Mark
What exactly is he claiming the court would do?
Mimi
He says it would try to prosecute US officials or service members. He used that to justify the sanctions announced last month.
Luke
Is that claim established? The report says he repeated his assertion. It doesn't say the court has taken such a step. The Afghanistan investigation involving US soldiers is described by the ICC as deprioritized.
Mimi
That's a fair line to draw. The claim is Rubio's, and the reporting attributes it to him.
Mark
And the Pompey quote?
Mimi
He suggested force if the court tried to enforce rulings against Americans. It's a rhetorical line, though, not a described plan.
Luke
Right. Nothing here says what that response would look like.
Mark
What about 2028?
Luke
Speculation only. He has firmly denied reports of a campaign. The venue invites the reading, but it proves nothing.
Mimi
What's concrete is the April date, and whether the court's backers can strike a deal before then.
Il Polso
- Rubio told a conservative legal audience the US will not submit to the ICC, branding its officials 'judge, jury and executioner' of the international order.
- Sanctions announced last month against the Netherlands-based court are set to bite in April unless a deal is struck, leaving supporters a narrow window.
- His reference to Pompey's line about laws and swords raised the stakes, suggesting force as the answer if the court moves against Americans.
- Allies across the EU and NATO remain firmly behind the court, so the standoff now turns on whether anyone will negotiate before April arrives.
On a November evening in Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio used a Federalist Society stage to argue that America should answer to no tribunal above its own sovereignty. The target was the International Criminal Court, the Hague-based body built after the horrors of the last century to hold individuals accountable for atrocity, and his words placed it within a longer quarrel over whether law between nations can bind the strongest among them. Coming weeks after a bruising midterm defeat for his party, the speech also carried the unspoken question of his own ambitions, which he has publicly disclaimed. What it reveals most clearly is a view that power, not parchment, should have the final word.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood before the Federalist Society in Washington on Friday, November 13, and made a case for a forceful American foreign policy, one unbound by international law. Much of the speech was aimed at the International Criminal Court.
It was his first prepared address since Republicans lost badly in the November 3 midterms, and it fed speculation that he might leave his two posts to seek the presidency in 2028. He has firmly denied that a campaign is imminent, but the Federalist Society has long been a proving ground for Republican hopefuls, and Rubio has often supplied intellectual cover for the "America First" approach.
He said Americans have never agreed to submit to the court's authority, accusing it of making itself "judge and jury and executioner of the international order." He repeated his claim that the court could try American officials or service members, the same rationale behind the sanctions announced last month. He also invoked the Roman general Pompey: "Stop quoting laws to men with swords," a remark that hinted at a forceful response should the court try to enforce rulings against Americans.
The sanctions are meant to choke the court's operations and take effect in April unless its supporters reach a deal with Washington. Whether that negotiation bears fruit, and whether this rhetoric resurfaces on the campaign trail, are the questions to watch.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood before the Federalist Society in Washington on Friday, November 13, and made the case for a muscular American foreign policy, one not restrained by international law. The target of much of his speech was the International Criminal Court.
The remarks were his first prepared address since Republicans were routed in the midterm elections on November 3. Rubio holds two jobs, national security adviser and top US diplomat, and the speech fed speculation that he might leave them to run for president in 2028. He has firmly denied reports that a campaign is imminent. But the Federalist Society is an occasional stop for Republican hopefuls, and Rubio has at times offered an intellectual justification for President Donald Trump's "America First" approach to the world.
On the court, Rubio said Americans have never agreed to submit to its authority. He accused it and its allies in the global bureaucracy of appointing themselves "judge and jury and executioner of the international order." The United States, he said, would not submit to "the sterile vision of radical judges or soulless global bureaucrats." He repeated his claim that the court would try to prosecute US officials or service members, the same claim he used to justify the sanctions on the ICC announced last month.
He also hinted at how Washington might respond if the court tried to enforce its rulings against Americans. Quoting the Roman general Pompey, he said the answer would be: "Stop quoting laws to men with swords." The line suggested a response by force.
Rubio turned as well to the US-Israeli war against Iran. Its goal, he said, was to keep Tehran from ever developing a nuclear weapon, a matter he called especially urgent because Iran's "radical Shia clerics" had an "expansionist mentality." He contrasted that with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whom Trump has met three times. "I'm not excusing the terrible things that have happened there," Rubio said, but Kim "is not expansionist. He's not trying to invade Japan or, you know, China or whatever."
Rubio has dismissed criticism that the administration has broken international law, including by seizing Venezuela's then-president Nicolas Maduro and striking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that Washington says were carrying drugs.
Hostility toward the ICC is not new in this administration. The court, based in the Netherlands and founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, has previously faced US sanctions on its prosecutors and judges. Washington has denounced it over arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and over an investigation into the actions of US soldiers in Afghanistan, which the ICC says it has "deprioritized." Most member states back the court firmly, including every EU country and every NATO member except the United States and Turkey.
The new sanctions are designed to stifle the court's ability to operate. They take effect in April unless the court's supporters can reach an agreement with the United States to avert them. Two things to watch: whether that negotiation produces anything, and whether Rubio's language shows up again in a campaign setting.
Citazioni salienti
Americans have never agreed to submit to the ICC's authority, but that court and its allies in the global bureaucracy have appointed themselves judge and jury and executioner of the international order.— Secretary of State Marco Rubio
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