Court of Appeals Temporarily Reinstates Sanctions on Antisemitic UN Envoy Francesca Albanese

Reversing a lower court’s decision, a federal appeals court has temporarily reinstated U.S. sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN envoy who, according to the State Department, “has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West.” Albanese is the UN Special Rapporteur for “human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967.”

On May 22, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia responded to an emergency motion the Justice Department had filed the previous day. The department argued that federal district court Judge Richard Leon had wrongly paused the sanctions in a May 13 ruling. The panel issued an administrative stay which authorized the executive branch to “implement and enforce” the sanctions on Albanese until additional filings are submitted in early June and the Court of Appeals decides on the merits as to whether the sanctions should remain in place.

The State Department imposed sanctions on Albanese in July 2025, for having “directly engaged with the International Criminal Court [ICC] in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of those two countries.”

District Court Judge Asserted That Albanese Possessed Constitutional Rights

Judge Leon had ruled that the sanctions violated the First Amendment rights of Albanese, an Italian citizen residing in Tunisia. Judge Leon found that foreign nationals located abroad have Constitutional rights if they can demonstrate “substantial connections” to the United States and that Albanese has such connections, principally because “she bought — and she still owns — property in the United States,” and also because her daughter was born in the U.S. and is thus a U.S. citizen.

In contrast, the Justice Department pointed to a Supreme Court decision in 2020 which held that, “Foreign citizens outside U.S. territory do not possess rights under the U.S. Constitution.” The Department argued that even if “substantial connections” do somehow qualify a non-citizen residing and speaking abroad for First Amendment protection, Albanese lacks such connections.

Rubio Blasted Albanese’s Lawfare Campaign That Threatened U.S. and Israel

In imposing sanctions on Albanese, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Albanese for “recommending that the ICC, without a legitimate basis, issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.” Rubio also said that Albanese had sent “threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies across finance, technology, defense, energy, and hospitality, making extreme and unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue investigations and prosecutions of these companies and their executives.”

U.S. officials have warned that measures which Albanese has urged be taken against Israel also endanger the United States. For example, as President Donald Trump said in the executive order authorizing sanctions for specified types of engagement with the ICC, the ICC’s issuance of warrants against officials of Israel (which, like the United States, is not an ICC member) “set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest.”

Albanese has also accused the United States of being controlled by a “Jewish lobby,” repeatedly compared Israelis to Nazis, and promoted statements calling Israel “the incarnation of evil.”

The U.S. Should Expand Its Efforts To Counter Albanese’s Campaign

Numerous countries have condemned Albanese’s antisemitic comments and biased conduct. She has clearly violated UN rules requiring impartiality. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that Albanese “presents herself as a UN independent expert, yet she is neither an expert nor independent — she is a political activist who stirs up hate.” The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office has separately urged that Albanese be “urgently investigated” for violating the code of conduct for her post.

The administration currently possesses leverage because it has withheld over $4 billion in UN dues. The United States has three times previously used budgetary leverage to extract significant UN reforms. Ensuring that the United Nations holds Albanese accountable for her rules violations, and removes her from her post, should be a top priority for the United States.

Orde F. Kittrie is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a law professor at Arizona State University. He previously served for over a decade in legal and policy positions at the U.S. State Department. For more analysis from Orde and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Orde on X @ordefk. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.