Legacy & Fate of International Criminal Law in the Age of Trump

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Eighty years ago, on October 16, 1946, in the cavernous gymnasium of Nuremberg prison, in Allied-occupied Germany, ten Nazi leaders were hanged by their necks for their atrocious crimes against the people of Europe, and broader humanity.

Among them, Joachim von Ribbentrop (he of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, leading to Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland); senior military officers Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl; Foreign Affairs chief Alfred Rosenberg; Hans Frank, chief of the Nazi regime’s General Government in Poland, that murdered millions of Jews; and Julius Streicher, infamous Nazi publicist, propagandist, and politician.

Herman Goering, second in command to Adolf Hitler, dodged the noose, swallowing cyanide the day before.

Nazi defendants in the dock at Nuremberg

Nazi leaders were executed two weeks after the close of their trial in the southeast Germany town of Nuremberg. Conceived and steered by the victorious Big Four – the US, Soviet Union, UK and France — the Nuremberg Tribunal began on November 20, 1945, and ended on October 1, 1946. Twenty-two surviving Nazi chiefs were tried. Twelve were sentenced to death.

Eighty years and eight days after the close of the Nuremberg Tribunal, this past October 9, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (‘Little Marco’, Donald Trump used to call him) announced the Trump regime’s intention to destroy Nuremberg’s successor, the International Criminal Court.

Established in July 2002, with the entry into force of the Rome Statute, the ICC “investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.”

In the minds of Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, nothing is more contemptible than human rights, justice and the rule of law — internationally or domestically.

No doubt aware the ICC might come after them, Trump and Rubio want the court to be dismantled.

Of course, the ICC won’t be issuing arrest warrants against Trump, Rubio or other senior US leaders anytime soon. Warrants against the leaders of America’s conjoined twin — Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza – were issued in November 2024.

According to Israeli media, other, secret warrants have been issued by the ICC against Israeli leaders. The ICC has denied this.

It has plenty of reason to do so. Staunch enemy of the rule of law, Washington has its knives out for the international community’s first permanent criminal tribunal. Marco Rubio has already slapped crushing sanctions on half of the ICC’s eighteen judges, its former Prosecutor, both its Deputy Prosecutors, and a senior staff member. The ICC’s Palestine proceedings are now under wraps.

Secrecy will get it nowhere. “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on October 9.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg Tribunal, the GPM spoke with Michael Lynk.

Michael Lynk is Associate Professor of Law at Western University, in southwest Ontario. Between 2016 and 2022, Michael served as UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

Listen to our conversation in today’s podcast. Click on the play button above, or go here.

Watch our complete conversation here:

The day after Michael’s conversation with the GPM — seemingly in response to Marco Rubio’s blood screed against international criminal justice and law; eighty years and eight days after the close of the Nuremberg Tribunal — Navanethem “Navi” Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her lifelong work in support of international justice and law.

The 85-year-old South African jurist, of Tamil Origin, defended Nelson Mandela. She has served as a judge on the High Court in South Africa, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court. Also, as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Navi Pillay

Until recently, Navi Pillay chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, that declared Israel’s war on Gaza to be genocidal. Pillay is a current sitting judge on the International Court of Justice in the case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide.

Fresh blood on his lips and teeth, juice of his assault on an institution Navi Pillay upholds, Marco Rubio must have been infuriated by her naming for the award.

Especially bitter for not having won the prize himself, Donald Trump surely scowled his reptilian scowl.