CHIP SOMODEVILLA / Getty Images via AFP
US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, here in 2019.
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UNITED STATES – When a judge of the American Supreme Court plays the head of international leaders. During a speech at Notre Dame University in Rome as part of the “Religious Liberty” conference, Judge Samuel Alito criticized Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson, three leaders who denounced the decision of the Supreme Court to revoke the constitutional protection of the right to abortion.
Samuel Alito, a 72-year-old conservative judge and devout Catholic, is the one who wrote this controversial judgment overturning the historic Roe v. Wade. A ” honor “, he said during this July 21 conference, the video of which was posted online a week later. In the United States, the right to abortion is now decided at the state level. Some of them, the most conservative, have almost totally banned it, like Texas or Oklahoma.
“It is, I believe, the only Supreme Court decision in the entire history of this institution that has been lambasted by a whole host of foreign leaders, who felt particularly comfortable commenting on US law,” he continued, triggering the hilarity of his audience (from 25min30 in the video above, in English).
“One of them was Boris Johnson, but he paid the price”, he added, in reference to the British Prime Minister forced to resign after a series of scandals, including that of “PartyGate”. The tenant of 10 Downing Street had regretted “a big step back” after the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Prince Harry also took for his rank
“Others are still there, still in power: President Macron, Prime Minister [canadien] Trudeau. But what really hurt me was when the Duke of Sussex spoke to the United Nations and compared the decision, whose name must not be spoken, to the Russian attack in Ukraine”he continues, this time attacking Prince Harry.
The latter indeed delivered a speech at the UN on July 18 during the international day in honor of Nelson Mandela aimed at promoting peace. He then made a bleak statement about the situation in the world: “From the horrific war in Ukraine to the backsliding of our constitutional rights here in the United States, we are witnessing a global attack on democracy and freedom. »
Judge Alito, appointed by George W. Bush in 2006, did not name other countries despite the temptation but his speech caused Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to react. “It’s Alito’s opinion that leaked” early May in the press, she recalls. “This fact, combined with these politicized remarks, should be alarming to everyone,” worries the chosen one from the Bronx.
Remember: it was Alito’s opinion that leaked.
That fact paired with his politicized remarks below should be alarmi… https://t.co/DzcAbfKHRl
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC)
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The Supreme Court is not a political body, at least in theory. Judges usually keep their opinions to themselves and do not intervene directly in public debate. A rule from which Samuel Alito seems to have freed himself.
See also also on The Huffpost: Abortion in the United States: the outrage of a 12-year-old girl at a public hearing
