Justice Alito Taunts World Leaders — Prince Harry, Included — for Comments on SCOTUS Abortion Ruling
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito mocked world leaders, including Prince Harry and outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for expressing their opinions on the recent Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion in the United States.
"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 told an audience in Rome during a keynote address at the 2022 Religious Liberty Summit earlier this month.
Video of his speech was posted on YouTube Thursday.
"One of these was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he paid the price," Alito said, apparently making a joke about Johnson's decision to step down as prime minister amid scandal and growing criticism of his leadership.
"But what really wounded me — what really wounded me — 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 said, referring to Prince Harry.
RELATED: As the Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Protests Erupt Around the Country: See the Photos
The royal, who now resides in California, recently gave a special address in honor of Nelson Mandela Day at the United Nations.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Prince Harry speaks at the United Nations in New York
"This has been a painful year in a painful decade," given the global COVID-19 pandemic, issues surrounding climate change, the war in Ukraine, the spread of disinformation and the "rolling back of constitutional rights here in the United States," Prince Harry said, referring the Supreme Court decision.
Johnson, in June, called the ruling a regretful "step backward" but added that he was "speaking as someone looking in from the outside."
In writing the majority opinion for the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision that was announced in June, Alito declared: "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."
RELATED: President Joe Biden Calls Supreme Court's Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade 'a Tragic Error'
Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Associate Justice Samuel Alito sits during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 23, 2021
The decision reversed nearly 50 years of precedent and instantly changed the landscape of women's reproductive rights in the U.S., where abortion was quickly banned in multiple states and nearly half the country expected to enact near-total bans on the procedure in the months that followed.
The 78-page opinion — which was expected because a draft was leaked in early May in a major breach of confidentiality — was backed by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, three of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump.
Other world leaders who voiced their views on the decision also came up during Alito's speech in Rome.
French President Emmanuel Macron called abortion "a fundamental right for all women" that "must be protected" in a post on Twitter.
"The news coming out of the United States is horrific," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in his own tweet following the Supreme Court decision. "My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion. I can't imagine the fear and anger you are feeling right now."
After his joke about Johnson prompted laughter from the audience, Alito said, "Others are still in office, President Macron and Prime Minister Trudeau, I believe, are two."
"Despite this temptation I am not going to talk about cases from other countries," Alito continued. "All I'm going to say is that if we are going to win the battle to protect religious freedom in an increasingly secular society, we will need more than positive law."
