Following the recent filing of what pundits are calling the “Apocalypse Indictment” at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the internet is buzzing with the phrase But is this hyperbole, or is there a mechanism by which handcuffs and habeas corpus could actually prevent global extinction?

In the pantheon of science fiction, the fate of humanity is usually decided by fighter pilots, rogue scientists with a detonator, or stoic diplomats in a bunker. Rarely do we picture a subpoena. Yet, in the age of climate collapse, cyberwarfare, and rogue state proliferation, a provocative new concept is creeping out of legal academia and into reality: the idea that a single criminal case might just save the world.

It does so via the An "instant" saving occurs not at the final guilty verdict, but at the moment the arrest warrant is unsealed. The optics of a global manhunt delegitimize the rogue actor. When Interpol issues a Red Notice for a general who just ordered a nuclear launch, the launch crew might hesitate. The officer might refuse the order.

That hesitation—that microsecond of doubt—is where the world is saved. While we have no "end of the world" conviction yet, we have a critical precedent: The Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946).