US judge bars Trump from punishing rights groups for liaising with ICC

A federal judge this week blocked the Trump administration from potentially imposing civil or criminal liability on two US-based human rights groups that carry out work in "service" of International Criminal Court (ICC) cases. Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York said the plaintiffs "demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the [presidential executive] Order violates their First Amendment rights to speak", and that "[t]he loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury". Furman then issued a preliminary injunction blocking any speech-based punitive measures against the two groups in question.