Federal judge blocks U.S. sanctions on UN rapporteur Albanese

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a preliminary injunction on May 14, 2026, blocking the Trump administration from enforcing sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. Leon, nominated by George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in February 2002, wrote a 26-page opinion finding that the sanctions likely violated Albanese's First Amendment rights.

Leon concluded that the administration targeted Albanese's speech because of the "idea or message expressed." He wrote that her recommendations to the International Criminal Court "have no binding effect on the ICC's actions" and amount to "nothing more than her opinion."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions on July 9, 2025, under Executive Order 14203, which President Trump signed in February 2025 to penalize anyone who assists ICC investigations of U.S. or Israeli nationals. Rubio announced the designation alleging Albanese had displayed "unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West."

The sanctions classified Albanese as a "specially designated national," which froze her U.S. assets, barred her from entering the country, and prohibited any American person or institution from doing business with her.

Albanese, an Italian legal scholar who has served as UN Special Rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza since 2022, had publicly criticized Washington's support for Israel during the war in Gaza. She accused Israel of committing genocide and recommended that the ICC prosecute Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

Her role as Special Rapporteur is an unpaid, independent position appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. The rapporteur monitors and reports on human rights conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The sanctions devastated Albanese's daily life. She described them as imposing a "civil death," telling interviewers that she can't hold a bank account, can't make transfers, and had her email shut down. The family's Washington, D.C. apartment was effectively seized, and her professional ties with Georgetown and Columbia universities were severed.

Even outside the United States, the sanctions froze her out of international banking systems because global financial institutions comply with U.S. Treasury designations to avoid secondary sanctions exposure.

Albanese's husband Massimiliano Cali, a senior economist at the World Bank, and their 13-year-old U.S.-citizen daughter filed the lawsuit in February 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (case L.C. v. Trump, No. 1:26-cv-00688). The plaintiffs named President Trump, Secretary Rubio, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as defendants.

The complaint argued the sanctions violated three constitutional provisions: First Amendment free speech protections, Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable seizure of property, and Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Judge Leon's ruling hinged on a key constitutional question: can a non-citizen living abroad claim First Amendment protections? Leon found that Albanese's "extensive connections" to the United States entitled her to assert those rights. He cited her property ownership in Washington, her American-born daughter, her professional affiliations with U.S. universities, and her husband's employment at the World Bank.

Leon noted that while Albanese's speech occurred outside the United States, the government responded "by taking action against Albanese's extensive connections to the United States" specifically because of that speech.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neoconservative think tank that advocated for the sanctions, argued in July 2025 that Rubio's action was a legitimate use of sanctions power against "lawfare" targeting U.S. and Israeli officials. UN Watch, the Geneva-based monitoring group whose petition calling for Albanese's sanctioning gathered over 120,000 signatures, responded to the injunction by emphasizing it's "not a moral vindication" and doesn't endorse Albanese's conduct.

Hillel Neuer, UN Watch's executive director, has documented what the organization characterizes as antisemitic statements by Albanese, noting she's the first UN special rapporteur formally condemned by multiple democratic governments for Holocaust inversion and antisemitic rhetoric.

Civil liberties organizations took the opposite view. Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, had intervened in the case, arguing that the ICC sanctions regime created a profound chilling effect on academic and political discourse. In December 2025, the Treasury Department conceded that Americans could invite Albanese to academic events without violating sanctions law.

The Open Society Justice Initiative called the ruling a defense of "the rule of law and American values," noting that while the sanctions were triggered by the ICC's Palestine investigation, they effectively undermined accountability efforts across all ICC workstreams, including cases the U.S. government had supported in Ukraine and Darfur.

The preliminary injunction is temporary. It halts enforcement of the travel ban, asset freeze, and business prohibition while the lawsuit proceeds. The Trump administration can appeal Leon's order, and the case will eventually go to trial on the merits. The government argued in court that the President has broad authority over foreign affairs and sanctions policy.

The ruling adds to a growing body of federal court decisions constraining executive power during the second Trump administration. Leon's opinion focused narrowly on whether the sanctions targeted constitutionally protected speech, not on whether Executive Order 14203 or ICC-related sanctions against other individuals are lawful.