Court Battles

Judge rules Rubio’s sanction of UN rapporteur violates First Amendment

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by Sophie Brams - 05/13/26 8:00 PM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 05/13/26 8:00 PM ET

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A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing sanctions against Francesa Albanese, a United Nations human rights investigator whose recent work has focused on the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon found the Trump administration likely violated Albanese’s First Amendment rights when it imposed sanctions on her in July 2025 because the measures appeared to directly target her speech criticizing Israel.

The State Department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment but previously defended the sanctions as “legal and appropriate.”

“The United States will continue to condemn and oppose her biased and malicious activities, which have long made her unfit for her role,” a spokesperson said in February. “This lawsuit itself is baseless lawfare, and Albanese is a disgrace.”

Albanese, an Italian legal scholar, has served as the UN rapporteur for the Palestinian territories since 2022. She has accused Israel of committing “genocide” and human rights abuses in Gaza and recommended certain Israeli officials to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The State Department imposed sanctions on her in 2025, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleging Albanese had displayed “unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West.”

He also accused her of directly engaging with the ICC in efforts to “investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute” U.S. and Israeli nationals.

Albanese’s husband, Massimiliano Cali, sued in February on behalf of himself, his wife and their child, arguing that the sanctions infringed upon her free speech rights.

Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, homed in on Rubio’s words in his opinion siding with the UN rapporteur and her family.

“If Albanese instead opposed ICC action against U.S. and Israeli nationals, she would not have been designated under E.O. 14203,” he wrote in a 26-page memorandum opinion. “Thus, the effect of Albanese’s designation is to ‘punish’ and thereby ‘suppress disfavored expression.’”

He also found that Albanese was protected under the U.S. constitution despite her residency outside of the U.S., finding that she possessed enough “substantial connections” to the country to assert First Amendment claims.

Albanese’s opponents have accused of her echoing Hamas talking points about Israel, but she has denied espousing support for terrorist groups and rejected equating her criticism of Israeli to antisemitism.

“Accusations like this are thrown (around like) confetti by people who care about Jews as much as they care about Palestinians and their own citizens,” she told Reuters in a recent interview. “Antisemitism is real and has nothing to do with legitimate criticism of the state of Israel.”

She also told the outlet that the U.S. sanctions had changed her life “significantly,” both personally and professionally.

“I often have to hide my identity when I participate in events and people book a room (on my behalf) because if the hotel company is connected to a U.S. entity, they will reject my reservation,” she said. “It’s very embarrassing; it’s very humiliating. Not being able to have a credit card, to have to borrow money, not being able to access my savings, my earnings, on top of the fact that I’m not even working anymore … because how am I going to get paid? So, it’s really unfortunate.”

Zach Schonfeld contributed.

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