II 

Calendar No. 3 

119TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 23 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 9, 2025 

Received; read the first time 

JANUARY 13, 2025 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

To impose sanctions with respect to the International Criminal Court engaged in any effort to investigate, arrest, 

detain, or prosecute any protected person of the United 

States and its allies. 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The United States and Israel are not par2 ties to the Rome Statute or members of the Inter3 national Criminal Court (ICC), and therefore the 

4 ICC has no legitimacy or jurisdiction over the 

5 United States or Israel. 

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

7 International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, an8 nounced arrest warrant applications for Israeli 

9 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister 

10 of Defense Yoav Gallant and should be condemned 

11 in the strongest possible terms. 

12 (3) On November 21, 2024, the ICC’s Pre-Trial 

13 Chamber issued warrants for the arrest of 

14 Netanyahu and Gallant, which should be condemned 

15 in the strongest possible terms. 

16 (4) The bipartisan American Servicemembers’ 

17 Protection Act was enacted in 2002 to protect 

18 United States military personnel, United States offi19 cials, and officials and military personnel of certain 

20 allied countries against criminal prosecution by an 

21 international criminal court to which the United 

22 States is not party, stating, ‘‘In addition to exposing 

23 members of the Armed Forces of the United States 

24 to the risk of international criminal prosecution, the 

25 Rome Statute creates a risk that the President and 


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1 other senior elected and appointed officials of the 

2 United States Government may be prosecuted by the 

3 International Criminal Court.’’. 

4 (5) The ICC’s actions against Israel, including 

5 the preliminary examination and investigation of 

6 Israel and issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli 

7 officials, are illegitimate and baseless and create a 

8 damaging precedent that threatens the United 

9 States, Israel, and all United States partners who 

10 have not consented to the ICC’s jurisdiction. 

11 (6) The United States must oppose any action 

12 by the ICC against the United States, Israel, or any 

13 other ally of the United States that has not con14 sented to ICC jurisdiction or is not a state party to 

15 the Rome Statute of the ICC. 

16 SEC. 3. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE INTER17 NATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT. 

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

19 date of enactment of this Act, and on an ongoing basis 

20 thereafter, if the International Criminal Court is engaging 

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

22 any protected person, the President shall impose— 

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

24 with respect to any foreign person the President de25 termines— 


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1 (A) has directly engaged in or otherwise 

2 aided any effort by the International Criminal 

3 Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute 

4 a protected person; 

5 (B) has materially assisted, sponsored, or 

6 provided financial, material, or technological 

7 support for, or goods or services to or in sup8 port of any effort by the International Criminal 

9 Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute 

10 a protected person; or 

11 (C) is owned or controlled by, or is cur12 rently acting or purports to have acted, directly 

13 or indirectly, for or on behalf of any person 

14 that directly engages in any effort by the Inter15 national Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, 

16 detain, or prosecute a protected person; and 

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

18 with respect to the immediate family members of 

19 each foreign person who is subject to sanctions pur20 suant to paragraph (1). 

21 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de22 scribed in this subsection with respect to a foreign person 

23 described in subsection (a) are the following: 

24 (1) PROPERTY BLOCKING.—The President shall 

25 exercise all of the powers granted by the InterVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Jan 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H23.PCS H23

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1 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

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

3 and prohibit all transactions in all property and in4 terests in property of any foreign person described 

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

6 property are in the United States, come within the 

7 United States, or are or come within the possession 

8 or control of a United States person. 

9 (2) ALIENS INADMISSIBLE FOR VISAS, ADMIS10 SION, OR PAROLE.— 

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

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

13 the alien is— 

14 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 

15 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 

16 documentation to enter the United States; 

17 and 

18 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 

19 or paroled into the United States or to re20 ceive any other benefit under the Immigra21 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

22 seq.). 

23 (B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

24 (i) IN GENERAL.—The visa or other 

25 entry documentation of an alien described 


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1 in subparagraph (A) shall be revoked, re2 gardless of when such visa or other entry 

3 documentation was issued. 

4 (ii) IMMEDIATE EFFECT.—A revoca5 tion under clause (i) shall— 

6 (I) take effect immediately; and 

7 (II) automatically cancel any 

8 other valid visa or entry documenta9 tion that is in the alien’s possession. 

10 (c) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

11 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex12 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

13 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

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

15 this section. 

16 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at17 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

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

19 order issued to carry out this section shall be subject 

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

21 of section 206 of the International Emergency Eco22 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same ex23 tent as a person that commits an unlawful act de24 scribed in subsection (a) of that section. 


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

2 days after any imposition of sanctions pursuant to sub3 section (a), the President shall brief and provide written 

4 notification to the appropriate congressional committees 

5 regarding the imposition of sanctions that shall include— 

6 (1) a description of the foreign person or per7 sons subject to the imposition of such sanctions, in8 cluding the foreign person’s role at or relation to the 

9 International Criminal Court; 

10 (2) a description of any activity undertaken by 

11 such foreign person or persons in support of efforts 

12 to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any pro13 tected person; and 

14 (3) the specific sanctions imposed on such for15 eign person or persons. 

16 (e) WAIVER.— 

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

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

19 days each, waive the application of sanctions im20 posed or maintained with respect to a foreign person 

21 under this section if the President submits to the 

22 appropriate congressional committees before the 

23 waiver is to take effect a report that contains a de24 termination of the President that the waiver is vital 


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1 to the national security interests of the United 

2 States. 

3 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report required by para4 graph (1) with respect to a waiver of the application 

5 of sanctions imposed or maintained with respect to 

6 a foreign person under this section, or the renewal 

7 of such a waiver, shall include— 

8 (A) a specific and detailed rationale for the 

9 determination that the waiver is vital to the na10 tional security interests of the United States; 

11 (B) a description of the activity that re12 sulted in the foreign person being subject to 

13 sanctions; 

14 (C) a detailed description and list of ac15 tions the United States has taken to stop the 

16 International Criminal Court from engaging in 

17 any effort to investigate, arrest, detain, or pros18 ecute all protected persons; and 

19 (D) a detailed description and list of ac20 tions the International Criminal Court has 

21 taken to permanently close, withdraw, end, or 

22 otherwise terminate any preliminary examina23 tion, investigation, or any other effort to inves24 tigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute all protected 

25 persons. 


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

2 by paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified 

3 form but may include a classified annex. 

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

5 the sanctions with respect to the foreign persons described 

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

7 the appropriate congressional committees that the Inter8 national Criminal Court— 

9 (1) has ceased engaging in any effort to inves10 tigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute all protected per11 sons; and 

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

13 and otherwise terminated any preliminary examina14 tion, investigation, or any other effort by the Inter15 national Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, de16 tain, or prosecute all protected persons. 

17 SEC. 4. RESCISSION OF FUNDS FOR INTERNATIONAL 

18 CRIMINAL COURT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, any amounts appropriated for the Inter21 national Criminal Court and available for obligation as of 

22 such date of enactment are hereby rescinded. 

23 (b) PROHIBITION ON FUTURE APPROPRIATIONS.— 

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


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1 appropriated funds may be used for the International 

2 Criminal Court. 

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

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

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

7 section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

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

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

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

11 (A) a government of a member country of 

12 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; or 

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

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

15 of the American Service-Members’ Protection 

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

17 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT18 TEES DEFINED.—The term ‘‘appropriate congres19 sional committees’’ means— 

20 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

21 Committee on Financial Services, and the Com22 mittee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep23 resentatives; and 

24 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

25 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 


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1 Urban Affairs, and the Committee on the Judi2 ciary of the Senate. 

3 (4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per4 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

5 person. 

6 (5) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER.—The term 

7 ‘‘immediate family member’’, with respect to a for8 eign person, means the spouse, parent, sibling, or 

9 adult child of the person. 

10 (6) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT; ROME

11 STATUTE.—The terms ‘‘International Criminal 

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

13 those terms in section 2013 of the American Service14 Members’ Protection Act (22 U.S.C. 7432). 

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

16 person’’ means— 

17 (A) any United States person, unless the 

18 United States provides formal consent to Inter19 national Criminal Court jurisdiction and is a 

20 state party to the Rome Statute of the Inter21 national Criminal Court, including— 

22 (i) current or former members of the 

23 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; 

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. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 9, 

2025. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 3 

119TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 23 

AN ACT 

To impose sanctions with respect to the Intertected person of the United States and its allies. investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any pro- national Criminal Court engaged in any effort to 

JANUARY 13, 2025 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 


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