Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito mocked Prince Harry to torrents of laughter during his first public remarks since the decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
‘What really wounded me, what really wounded me,’ the conservative justice said, ‘Was when the Duke of Sussex addressed the United Nations and seemed to compare the decision, whose name may not be spoken, with the Russian attack on Ukraine.’
Alito, who authored last month’s ruling, also mocked foreign world leaders who have decried the Supreme Court decision and implied they should keep their noses out of America’s law books.
‘I had the honor this term of writing I think the only Supreme Court decision in the history of that institution that has been lambasted by a whole string of foreign leaders who felt perfectly fine commenting on American law,’ Alito said.
Alito made his comments at a July 21 conference on religious liberty in Rome hosted by the University of Notre Dame Law School. Video of the speech was posted online on Thursday by Notre Dame.
His shot at Prince Harry came after the former Duke of Sussex rebuked the supreme court decision alongside Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during a speech at the United Nations in New York City on July 18.
The Duke of Sussex’s spoke to the general assembly of the UN on July 18 for Nelson Mandela Day, where Harry waded into US politics while describing a ‘global assault on democracy and freedom.’
He added: ‘And from the horrific war in Ukraine to the rolling back of constitutional right in the US we are witnessing a global assault on democracy and freedom the cause of Mandela’s life.’
That was a clear dig at the decision to overturn Roe, which guaranteed women across the United States the right to an abortion.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito mocked Prince Harry to torrents of laughter during his first public remarks since the decision to overturn Roe v Wade
Alito also joked that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, pictured on July 28, torpedoed his political career by speaking out against the end of Roe. Johnson will step down later this year after being sunk by a series of scandals
‘This has been a painful year in a painful decade. We are living through a pandemic that continues to ravage communities in every corner of the globe,’ Harry said.
‘Climate change wreaking havoc on our planet with most vulnerable suffering most of all. The few weaponizing lies and disinformation at the expense of the many.
Numerous prominent world leaders have expressed dismay at the overturning of Roe v Wade, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Alito called out President Macron by name in his speech, but he reserved an extra quip for Prime Minister Johnson.
‘One of these was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he paid the price,’ Alito joked, referring to Johnson’s plans to step down following criticism of his leadership from within Britain’s ruling Conservative Party.
Alito called out President Macron by name in his speech, but he reserved an extra quip for Prime Minister Johnson
Aside from those references to Roe’s foreign critics, Alito skirted the topic and focused instead on the conference’s theme of religious liberty.
‘Religious liberty is under attack in many places because it is dangerous to those who want to hold complete power,’ he said, ‘It also probably grows out of something dark and deep in the human DNA – a tendency to distrust and dislike people who are not like ourselves.’
Alito, a Roman Catholic who has been characterized as one of the Supreme Court’s most conservative justices, said religion faced the challenge of convincing people ‘that religious liberty is worth defending if they don’t think that religion is a good thing that deserves protection.’
The conservative justice was nominated to the court by President George W. Bush in 2005. He began his service in 2006.
Alito has been characterized as one of the Supreme Court’s most conservative judges
Alito authored the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Above, demonstrators protest the ruling
It is not the first time the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have waded into American politics, finding themselves in hot water after commenting on the US election.
During a Time 100 video in September 2020 they called on American voters to ‘reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity’ in ‘the most important election of our life.’
Members of the royal family are supposed to be politically neutral, when they stepped back from their roles the Sussex’s vowed that ‘everything they do will uphold the values of Her Majesty’.
The couple spectacularly quit the royal family in January 2020, a seismic event for the British monarchy that some comedians dubbed ‘Megxit.’
They now live in a $13 million mansion in Montecito, California, after striking deals worth tens of millions to produce content for Netflix and Spotify.
A Netflix documentary about the Sussexes is set to be broadcast later this year, while a tell-all autobiography by Harry is due this fall.
The couple are parents to a three year-old son called Archie and an 13 month-old daughter called Lilibet.
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