II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4484 

To impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons of the International 

Criminal Court engaged in any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or 

prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 5, 2024 

Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. RISCH, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. 

SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CRUZ, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. SULLIVAN, and Mr. RICKETTS) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons of the 

International Criminal Court engaged in any effort to 

investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any protected 

person of the United States and its allies, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Illegitimate Court 

5 Counteraction Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The United States and Israel are not par4 ties to the Rome Statute or members of the Inter5 national Criminal Court, and therefore the Inter6 national Criminal Court has no legitimacy or juris7 diction over the United States or Israel. 

8 (2) On May 20, 2024, the Prosecutor of the 

9 International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, an10 nounced arrest warrant applications for Israeli 

11 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister 

12 of Defense Yoav Gallant and should be condemned 

13 in the strongest possible terms. 

14 (3) The bipartisan American Servicemembers’ 

15 Protection Act (22 U.S.C. 7421 et seq.) was enacted 

16 in 2002 to protect United States military personnel, 

17 United States officials, and officials and military 

18 personnel of certain allied countries against criminal 

19 prosecution by an international criminal court to 

20 which the United States is not party, stating, ‘‘In 

21 addition to exposing members of the Armed Forces 

22 of the United States to the risk of international 

23 criminal prosecution, the Rome Statute creates a 

24 risk that the President and other senior elected and 

25 appointed officials of the United States Government 


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1 may be prosecuted by the International Criminal 

2 Court.’’. 

3 (4) The International Criminal Court’s actions 

4 against Israel are illegitimate and baseless, including 

5 the preliminary examination and investigation of 

6 Israel and applications for arrest warrants against 

7 Israeli officials, which create a damaging precedent 

8 that threatens the United States, Israel, and all 

9 United States partners who have not submitted to 

10 the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction. 

11 (5) The United States must oppose any action 

12 by the International Criminal Court against the 

13 United States, Israel, or any other ally of the United 

14 States that has not consented to International 

15 Criminal Court jurisdiction or is not a state party to 

16 the Rome Statute. 

17 SEC. 3. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE INTER18 NATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, and on an ongoing basis 

21 thereafter, if the International Criminal Court is engaging 

22 in any attempt to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute 

23 any protected person, the President shall impose— 


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1 (1) the sanctions described in subsection (b) 

2 with respect to any foreign person the President de3 termines— 

4 (A) has directly engaged in or otherwise 

5 aided any effort by the International Criminal 

6 Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute 

7 a protected person; 

8 (B) has materially assisted, sponsored, or 

9 provided financial, material, or technological 

10 support for, or goods or services to or in sup11 port of any effort by the International Criminal 

12 Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute 

13 a protected person; or 

14 (C) is owned or controlled by, or is cur15 rently acting or purports to have acted, directly 

16 or indirectly, for or on behalf of any person 

17 that directly engages in any effort by the Inter18 national Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, 

19 detain, or prosecute a protected person; and 

20 (2) the sanctions described in subsection (b)(2) 

21 with respect to the immediate family members of 

22 each foreign person who is subject to sanctions pur23 suant to paragraph (1). 


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1 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de2 scribed in this subsection with respect to a foreign person 

3 described in subsection (a) are the following: 

4 (1) PROPERTY BLOCKING.—The President shall 

5 exercise all of the powers granted by the Inter6 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

7 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to block 

8 and prohibit all transactions in all property and in9 terests in property of any foreign person described 

10 in subsection (a)(1) if such property and interests in 

11 property are in the United States, come within the 

12 United States, or are or come within the possession 

13 or control of a United States person. 

14 (2) ALIENS INADMISSIBLE FOR VISAS, ADMIS15 SION, OR PAROLE.— 

16 (A) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—In 

17 the case of an alien described in subsection (a), 

18 the alien is— 

19 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 

20 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 

21 documentation to enter the United States; 

22 and 

23 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 

24 or paroled into the United States or to re25 ceive any other benefit under the ImmigraVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:40 Jul 26, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4484.IS S4484

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1 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

2 seq.). 

3 (B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

4 (i) IN GENERAL.—The visa or other 

5 entry documentation of an alien described 

6 in subparagraph (A) shall be revoked, re7 gardless of when such visa or other entry 

8 documentation was issued. 

9 (ii) IMMEDIATE EFFECT.—A revoca10 tion under clause (i) shall— 

11 (I) take effect immediately; and 

12 (II) automatically cancel any 

13 other valid visa or entry documenta14 tion that is in the alien’s possession. 

15 (c) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

16 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex17 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

18 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

19 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out 

20 this section. 

21 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at22 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

23 violation of this section or any regulation, license, or 

24 order issued to carry out this section shall be subject 

25 to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) 


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1 of section 206 of the International Emergency Eco2 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same ex3 tent as a person that commits an unlawful act de4 scribed in subsection (a) of that section. 

5 (d) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 10 

6 days after any imposition of sanctions pursuant to sub7 section (a), the President shall brief and provide written 

8 notification to the appropriate congressional committees 

9 regarding the imposition of sanctions that shall include— 

10 (1) a description of the foreign person or per11 sons subject to the imposition of such sanctions, in12 cluding the foreign person’s role at or relation to the 

13 International Criminal Court; 

14 (2) a description of any activity undertaken by 

15 such foreign person or persons in support of efforts 

16 to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any pro17 tected person; and 

18 (3) the specific sanctions imposed on such for19 eign person or persons. 

20 (e) WAIVER.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may, on a 

22 case-by-case basis and for periods not to exceed 90 

23 days each, waive the application of sanctions im24 posed or maintained with respect to a foreign person 

25 under this section if the President submits to the 


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1 appropriate congressional committees before the 

2 waiver is to take effect a report that contains a de3 termination of the President that the waiver is vital 

4 to the national security interests of the United 

5 States. 

6 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report required by para7 graph (1) with respect to a waiver of the application 

8 of sanctions imposed or maintained with respect to 

9 a foreign person under this section, or the renewal 

10 of such a waiver, shall include— 

11 (A) a specific and detailed rationale for the 

12 determination that the waiver is vital to the na13 tional security interests of the United States; 

14 (B) a description of the activity that re15 sulted in the foreign person being subject to 

16 sanctions; and 

17 (C) a detailed description and list of ac18 tions the United States has taken to— 

19 (i) stop the International Criminal 

20 Court from engaging in any effort to inves21 tigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute all pro22 tected persons; and 

23 (ii) permanently close, withdraw, end, 

24 or otherwise terminate any preliminary ex25 amination, investigation, or any other efVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:40 Jul 26, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4484.IS S4484

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1 fort to investigate, arrest, detain, or pros2 ecute all protected persons. 

3 (3) FORM.—Each report required by paragraph 

4 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 

5 include a classified annex. 

6 (f) SPECIAL RULE.—The President may terminate 

7 the sanctions with respect to the foreign persons described 

8 in subsection (a) if the President certifies in writing to 

9 the appropriate congressional committees that the Inter10 national Criminal Court— 

11 (1) has ceased engaging in any effort to inves12 tigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute all protected per13 sons; and 

14 (2) has permanently closed, withdrawn, ended, 

15 and otherwise terminated any preliminary examina16 tion, investigation, or any other effort by the Inter17 national Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, de18 tain, or prosecute all protected persons. 

19 SEC. 4. RESCISSION OF FUNDS FOR INTERNATIONAL 

20 CRIMINAL COURT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date of the enact22 ment of this Act, any amounts appropriated for the Inter23 national Criminal Court and available for obligation as of 

24 such date of enactment are hereby rescinded. 


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1 (b) PROHIBITION ON FUTURE APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 On and after the date of the enactment of this Act, no 

3 appropriated funds may be used for the International 

4 Criminal Court. 

5 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) ADMITTED ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 

8 and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

9 section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

10 (8 U.S.C. 1101). 

11 (2) ALLY OF THE UNITED STATES.—The term 

12 ‘‘ally of the United States’’ means— 

13 (A) a government of a member country of 

14 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; or 

15 (B) a government of a major non-NATO 

16 ally, as that term is defined by section 2013(7) 

17 of the American Service-Members’ Protection 

18 Act (22 U.S.C. 7432(7)). 

19 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT20 TEES DEFINED.—The term ‘‘appropriate congres21 sional committees’’ means— 

22 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

23 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

24 Urban Affairs, and the Committee on the Judi25 ciary of the Senate; and 


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1 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

2 Committee on Financial Services, and the Com3 mittee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep4 resentatives. 

5 (4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per6 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

7 person. 

8 (5) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER.—The term 

9 ‘‘immediate family member’’, with respect to a for10 eign person, means the spouse, parent, sibling, or 

11 adult child of the person. 

12 (6) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT; ROME

13 STATUTE.—The terms ‘‘International Criminal 

14 Court’’ and ‘‘Rome Statute’’ have the meaning given 

15 those terms in section 2013 of the American Service16 Members’ Protection Act (22 U.S.C. 7432). 

17 (7) PROTECTED PERSON.—The term ‘‘protected 

18 person’’ means— 

19 (A) any United States person, unless the 

20 United States provides formal consent to Inter21 national Criminal Court jurisdiction and is a 

22 state party to the Rome Statute of the Inter23 national Criminal Court, including— 

24 (i) current or former members of the 

25 Armed Forces of the United States; 


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1 (ii) current or former elected or ap2 pointed officials of the United States Gov3 ernment; and 

4 (iii) any other person currently or for5 merly employed by or working on behalf of 

6 the United States Government; and 

7 (B) any foreign person that is a citizen or 

8 lawful resident of an ally of the United States 

9 that has not consented to International Crimi10 nal Court jurisdiction or is not a state party to 

11 the Rome Statute of the International Criminal 

12 Court, including— 

13 (i) current or former members of the 

14 Armed Forces of such ally of the United 

15 States; 

16 (ii) current or former elected or ap17 pointed government officials of such ally of 

18 the United States; and 

19 (iii) any other person currently or for20 merly employed by or working on behalf of 

21 such a government. 

22 (8) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

23 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 


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1 (A) an individual who is a United States 

2 citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for perma3 nent residence to the United States; 

4 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

5 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 

6 United States, including a foreign branch of 

7 such an entity; or 

8 (C) any person in the United States. 

Æ 


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