As the Darfur region of Sudan smolders, human rights activists and a growing number of governments have adopted a new strategy. They are calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take the lead by investigating and indicting those responsible for the atrocities. The court, established in 1998 and situated in The Hague, Netherlands, is designed to prosecute the worst crimes against humanity. Given the continuing brutality in Sudan, who could object?

But judicial intervention may not be the wisest course—at least not yet. Those clamoring for the ICC to take the lead want to establish the precedent that atrocities will be punished. Instead, they may be handing cautious politicians an excuse for continued inaction while unnecessarily dividing the United States and Europe.

No one disputes the urgency of the situation in Darfur, where the Sudanese government has employed Arab militias known as Janjaweed to fight an insurgency and terrorize the local population. By some estimates, the conflict has killed as many as 200,000. More than a million people have been forced from their homes. In September, then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell publicly labeled the campaign in Darfur a genocide. In response, the U.N. Security Council passed resolutions and helped establish a small African Union peacekeeping force. But council members have refrained from sending their own troops or even threatening the Khartoum government with force. Meanwhile, the atrocities continue.

With hopes of a serious military response fading, momentum for a judicial one is building. Activists have besieged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. President George W. Bush with calls to prosecute those responsible for the massacres. Earlier this month, the U.N.-appointed International...