Griffin: ‘If the ICC can unlawfully prosecute Israelis, it can also unlawfully prosecute Americans’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement announcing he has sent a letter on behalf of 20 state attorneys general supporting the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act (ICC Act), legislation sponsored by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) to protect American civil and military officials from unlawful prosecutions by the International Criminal Court (ICC):

“An ICC prosecutor has recently claimed the authority to prosecute the civilian and military leaders of Israel under the treaty creating the ICC despite Israel, like the United States, neither being a party to the treaty nor agreeing to be bound by the court. If the ICC can unlawfully prosecute Israelis, it can also unlawfully prosecute Americans.

“I applaud Sen. Cotton and his Senate co-sponsors—as well as those sponsoring the companion bill in the House—for this much-needed legislation. Our nation does not recognize the authority of the ICC over American citizens as the ICC does not recognize the protections of the Bill of Rights to which all Americans are entitled. It is imperative that the Senate immediately take up and pass Sen. Cotton’s bill.”

Cotton’s legislation (S. 4484) is co-sponsored by Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), James Risch (R-ID), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Susan Collins (R-ME), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Ted Budd (R-NC). Its House companion bill (H.R. 8282), sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and 76 co-sponsors, passed with broad bipartisan support.

The legislation takes swift action to deter persons involved with the ICC from furthering efforts to assert unlawful authority. Specifically, as already passed by the House, the ICC Act would impose sanctions on any foreign person who the President determines has engaged in, aided, or materially assisted the ICC’s illegitimate prosecutorial actions. Those actions include any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any American citizen, any person who is currently or formerly either a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, an elected or appointed United States government official, or a person employed by or working on behalf of the United States government, as well as any entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States. Sanctions are similarly triggered by ICC actions against any citizen of a NATO ally or major non-NATO ally that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction or is not a party to the Rome Statute.

The legislation further requires the President to block and prohibit property transactions by persons involved in illegitimate ICC prosecutions and to immediately revoke any U.S. visa held by them or their immediate family members. Such persons are likewise rendered ineligible to receive admission or parole into the United States. Finally, it rescinds funding for the ICC and prohibits the use of any funding appropriated for the ICC.

Griffin is joined on the letter by the attorneys general of Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

To read the letter, click here.

For a printer-friendly version of this release, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having
previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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