Hegseth Echoes Rubio’s ICC Warning, ‘Stop Quoting Laws to Men With Swords,’ and Critics Cry ‘Might Makes Right’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday night amplified Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s warning to the International Criminal Court, reposting a State Department clip of Rubio’s speech with a seven-word message of his own: “Stop quoting laws to MEN WITH SWORDS.”
Hegseth’s post, published shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern, quoted a State Department video of Rubio calling the Hague-based tribunal a “fake court.”
Rubio Borrowed the Line From Pompey
Rubio delivered the line Friday night in the Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington. He said the ICC and “its allies in the global bureaucracy have appointed themselves judge and jury and executioner of the international order,” according to the State Department transcript.
“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 cities’ charters against his legions,” Rubio said. “He said, ‘Stop quoting laws to men with swords.’” The audience laughed, and Rubio added, “Not politically correct to say that, but that’s what he said.”
The United States signed the treaty that created the court but never ratified it, and the administration sanctioned the court earlier this year, the Daily Caller reported. The court has no police force and relies on member nations to make arrests.
Rubio also used the speech to acknowledge voters’ economic pain after the GOP’s midterm losses. “I think we have to recognize that people are struggling. There’s no doubt about it,” he said, the Associated Press reported. He accused critics of “the weaponization of international law” against the administration’s boat strikes and the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Critics Say the Military Answers to the Law
Coming from the head of the Pentagon, the line drew a sharper reaction. Former Rep. Justin Amash, a Libertarian from Michigan, wrote that “rejecting the ICC’s jurisdiction is one thing. Declaring that laws become irrelevant the moment swords appear is another. That’s just ‘might makes right,’” Raw Story reported. Journalist Aaron Rupar noted that “the military is subject to laws.”
Some on the right had a different complaint. Conservative commentator Auron Macintyre wrote that the line “would go a lot harder if the admin hadn’t folded in the face of every illegitimate ruling by a federal court judge,” according to the same report.
Posts using the phrase jumped from about 100 an hour to more than 700 in the hour after Hegseth’s repost, and were still running above 450 an hour Sunday morning, according to X’s public post counts.
Hegseth survived a House impeachment vote this week after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) forced it to the floor. Rubio, whose speech fueled talk of a 2028 run, has refused to say whether he will seek the presidency, the AP reported.
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