Judge Blocks 2025 US Sanctions on UN Expert Albanese as Speech Ruling Rebukes Trump
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 14
Judge Blocks 2025 US Sanctions on UN Expert Albanese as Speech Ruling Rebukes Trump
5 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 14
US District Judge Richard Leon temporarily halted sanctions that barred Francesca Albanese from entering the US and using its banking system, ruling the Trump administration likely violated her First Amendment rights.
Leon said the sanctions targeted Albanese over the "idea or message expressed" after she criticized Israel's war in Gaza and urged the ICC to pursue war-crimes cases against Israeli and US nationals.
Marco Rubio imposed the measures in July 2025 under Trump's order authorizing sanctions on people involved with the ICC's Gaza investigation; Leon wrote Albanese's recommendations were only nonbinding opinion.
A February lawsuit by Albanese's husband and US-citizen daughter said the sanctions had effectively debanked her and made daily life difficult, while Albanese cast them as part of a broader US effort to weaken international accountability.
Can US free speech rights shield international officials from American sanctions?
When a superpower sanctions justice officials, who holds them accountable?
Landmark U.S. Court Ruling Halts Trump Administration Sanctions on UN Gaza Investigator, Citing First Amendment Rights
Overview
In May 2026, a U.S. federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Israel-occupied Palestinian territories. These sanctions, imposed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in July 2025 under Trump’s executive order, had barred Albanese from entering the U.S. and using its banking system because of her calls for the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes by Israeli and American nationals. The judge found that the sanctions likely violated Albanese’s First Amendment free-speech rights, emphasizing that constitutional protections can apply even to those living outside the U.S.