America: Conservative US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has shrugged off criticism of a landmark ruling written last month that overturned a fundamental 1973 ruling on abortion rights from world-renowned people.
Alito, in his first public remarks since the decision, dismissed criticism of the decision made by people such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which has led many conservative US states on abortion.
Additionally, Britain's Prince Harry, also known as the Duke of Sussex, who referenced the abortion decision in a speech to the United Nations last week, drew criticism from Alito.
On July 21, Alito made an unexpected speech at a conference on religious freedom organized in Rome by the University of Notre Dame Law School. On Thursday, Notre Dame posted a video of the speech online.
This word, I had the honor of writing down the only Supreme Court decision in the history of that institution, which has been criticized by many foreign leaders who, according to Alito, felt perfectly comfortable criticizing American law.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was one of these, but he "paid the price", as joked by Alito in reference to Johnson's plans to resign after his leadership was criticized by the ruling Conservative Party in Britain.
But the thing that really hurt me, which really hurt me, was when the Duke of Sussex spoke at the United Nations and appeared to compare that decision, which cannot be named, with the Russian attack on Ukraine ,” Alito said sarcastically, referring to her decision overturning Roe's decision, which legalized abortion nationally in the United States and acknowledged a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.
The audience laughed when Alito brought up the abortion decision during a speech about the importance of religious freedom. Prince Harry described 2022 as "a painful year in a painful decade", before referring to the Ukraine conflict and the "return of constitutional rights in the United States" that seemed to refer to the abortion decision.
On the day of the verdict, Macron argued that the Supreme Court had "compromised" women's freedoms and that abortion was a fundamental right. Trudeau described the election as "terrible".
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, in a separate appearance in Montana on July 21, said the conservative-majority Supreme Court said losing the trust of the American people would be a "dangerous thing for democracy."
The court, the nation's highest court, has a 6-3 conservative majority that has boldly asserted its authority in recent cases such as those involving abortion.
In the wake of the abortion ruling, which ended the court's historic term that ended last month, opinion polls have revealed declining public support for the institution.
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