US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took aim Friday at what he deemed the "weaponization of international law," calling it a tool of the elite, and issued a stark warning to the International Criminal Court.
Rubio cautioned the ICC against "quoting laws to men with swords," as he accused the Hague-based tribunal of trying to enforce rules that Washington does not recognize.
His remarks to the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention came around a month after the United States announced new sanctions on the ICC, vowing to cripple its operations.
The court prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.
The US signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC but never ratified the treaty. Israel, Russia and China are also not ICC members.
Rubio's keynote address at the conservative group, where he received a standing ovation, marks his first major US speech since the Republican Party's sweeping losses in midterm elections earlier this month.
Rubio said Friday that international law had been invoked against "nearly every major foreign policy decision" of the Trump administration, from boat strikes in the Caribbean to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
He charged that such law was not neutral, but has been an "instrument" for the global elite to advance their interests.
The top US diplomat previously said Washington would bar transactions with what he called a "rogue court," stepping up a long-running campaign by US President Donald Trump's government against the ICC.
Washington has vowed to dismantle the court, angered as judges issued an arrest warrant for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged crimes in Gaza.
Rubio on Friday renewed criticism of the ICC, calling it accountable to no one although "armed with the power to investigate, to prosecute, to persecute and to jail our citizens, according to laws we neither consent nor control."
He added: "If they're foolish enough to try to enforce their paper decrees on Americans, our answer will probably be the same as the Roman general Pompey when he said to those who were trying to invoke their city's charters against his legions."
"He said: 'Stop quoting laws to men with swords.'"
The venue of Rubio's remarks, a gathering of the legal profession, could further speculation that he is looking beyond his foreign policy portfolio. Past presidential hopefuls have also addressed the conference.
Rubio is widely seen as a possible successor to Trump, although he has dismissed reports that he was planning to leave the administration to prepare for a 2028 election run.
