Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito responded to criticism from foreign leaders regarding the courtās overturning of Roe V. Wade in a speech in Italy last week.
Alito spoke at a religious liberty summit in Rome organized by Notre Dame Law School on July 21, according to Reuters.
āI 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,ā Alito said, all but confirming he was speaking about the June court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womenās Health Organization.
The justice mentioned criticism from international leaders such as Prince Harry, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Alito saved a jab for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, alluding to Johnsonās imminent ouster from office. Johnson has called the Dobbs ruling a ābig step backwards,ā Reuters reported.
Alito sarcastically claimed to have been āwoundedā by Prince Harryās comparison of the Dobbs decision to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Itās rare for Supreme Court justices to speak publicly about domestic politics, and even rarer for them to speak about international affairs.
The George W. Bush-appointed justice warned against religious intolerance and persecution in his speech, arguing for the protection of religious liberties.
Alito remarked on the Roman setting of his speech, mentioning theĀ persecution of Christians in antiquity.
The judge pointed to the Constitutionās protection of religious liberty as a rare exception in human history, noting that religious persecution has instead been the unfortunate norm.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.