Secretary of State Marco Rubio just went scorched-earth on the International Criminal Court, and on the very concept of international law itself, denouncing the multinational institution as the antithesis of everything the American people fought for in the Revolution, and of every ideal enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
The message was clear: the United States is beholden to nothing but its founding documents, its founding ideals, and its own laws. The ICC can go to hell.
The International Criminal Court seeks to become the unaccountable arbiter of a new global law — empowered to prosecute and arrest our citizens at will and existentially threaten American sovereignty.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 13, 2026
We will teach the ICC the full meaning of American resolve. pic.twitter.com/2egHK1jA98
"For 250 years, Americans have governed ourselves as a free and sovereign people. We choose our own leaders. We determine our own laws. And when we're accused of a crime, we stand for judgment before a jury of our own peers. This is the essential and indispensable feature of our form of government. It is the foundation of our shared way of life. But today, powerful people in faraway places want to take that away from us," the secretary of state said. "They believe that they should be in charge of your laws, of your country, your life, and they don't care whether or not you agree."
Halfway across the world, there's an institution that calls itself the International Criminal Court (ICC). Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you haven't. But chances are, you don't know the names of its judges, of its prosecutors, or its president. And you shouldn't have to. But as we speak, the ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes and compacts and the force of so-called international law.
When the ICC was born 24 years ago, they told us that it was merely a narrow backstop, a global court that would step in to prosecute only the gravest offenses, things like genocide and war crimes, and only when a nation's courts were unable to prosecute them on their own. But the truth is, it was something far more radical and extreme. It was a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited. The danger of this global court has only continued to grow.
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"Today it threatens every aspect of our political and legal system," Rubio continued. "Border patrol agents removing violent criminals from our country. American Marines risking their lives to defend our homeland. Prosecutors working to dismantle terrorist plots to attack and kill Americans. If we stand idle, all of them would be at the mercy of foreign judges, thousands of miles away, facing the constant risk of prosecution and even imprisonment for the so-called crime of defending their own country."
The American people never agreed to any of this, and they never will. Read the words of our Declaration of Independence. We fought a revolution against a foreign power transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses. Independence is our birthright. We will never let foreign bureaucrats take that away from us. This administration will not sit by as the ICC and its allies seek to threaten our people. If they believe they can deprive us of our sovereignty, we will teach them the full meaning of American resolve.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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