‘Really wounded me’: US Supreme Court Justice Alito mocks global critics of abortion ruling

Washington: Conservative US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has brushed off criticism from prominent world figures of last month’s blockbuster ruling he authored that overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion rights decision.

In his first public remarks since the decision, which has led to various conservative US states imposing abortion bans, Alito dismissed criticism coming from the likes of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Justice Samuel Alito jnr wrote the majority opinion overruling Roe v Wade. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” he declared.Credit: AP

He also took aim at Britain’s Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, who referenced the abortion ruling in a speech at the United Nation’s last week.

Alito’s unannounced speech was delivered on July 21 at a conference on religious liberty in Rome hosted by the University of Notre Dame Law School. Video of the speech was posted online by Notre Dame on Friday.

“I had the honour 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.

“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.

“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 added in a sarcastic tone, referring to his ruling overturning the Roe decision that had legalised abortion in the US and recognised a woman’s constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.

Alito’s references were met with laughter from the audience.

In his July 18 speech, Harry spoke of 2022 as “a painful year in a painful decade” before citing the war in Ukraine and “the rolling back of constitutional rights here in the United States,” which appeared to reference the abortion ruling.

Johnson has called the ruling “a big step backwards”.

Macron said on the day of the decision that abortion was a fundamental right and that women’s freedoms were “compromised” by the Supreme Court. Trudeau called the decision “horrific”.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan said in a separate appearance in Montana on July 21 that it would be a “dangerous thing for a democracy” if the conservative-majority Supreme Court lost the confidence of the American public.

The court, America’s top judicial body, has a 6-3 conservative majority that has boldly asserted its power in the abortion ruling and other recent cases.

Opinion polls have shown a drop in public approval of the court in the wake of the abortion ruling, which capped its blockbuster term that ended last month.

Reuters

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