Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito<\/a> for the first time publicly addressed critics of his landmark opinion<\/a> overturning Roe v. Wade, using a speech in Italy to make light of Britain’s Prince Harry and other foreign figures who have lamented the rollback of U.S. protections for abortion.<\/a><\/p>\n “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 in a sarcastic tone. The decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health<\/a>, was released last month.<\/p>\n Prince Harry had referenced “the rolling back of constitutional rights here in the U.S.” as well as war in Ukraine<\/a> as examples of why 2022 is “a painful year in a painful decade,” during a speech July 18<\/a> in New York.<\/p>\n Alito also made light of commentary from outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.<\/a><\/p>\n “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,” he said. “One of these was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he paid the price.”<\/p>\n Alito appeared to reference Johnson’s recent resignation<\/a> after a series of scandals in office.<\/p>\n The justice’s comments came during a speech July 21 in Rome at a conference on religious liberty<\/a> hosted by the University of Notre Dame Law School. The appearance was not previously announced by the Court; video of the speech<\/a> was posted online Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is hard to convince people that religious liberty is worth defending if they don\u2019t think that religion is a good thing that deserves protection,\u201d Alito told the audience. \u201cThe challenge for those who want to protect religious liberty in the United States, Europe, and other similar places is to convince people who are not religious that religious liberty is worth special protection. That will not be easy to do.\u201d<\/p>\n The Court’s conservative majority delivered significant victories for religious liberty in the most recent term, affirming the right of a public school football coach to pray among students at the 50-yard line<\/a>; allow a civic group to raise a Christian flag on Boston City Hall flag pole;<\/a> and, permit Maine families to utilize taxpayer-funded tuition credits for religious schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n Those decisions, along with major rulings on gun rights, climate policy and immigration, thrust the justices to the center of a divisive and highly-partisan public debate.<\/p>\n Justice Sonia Sotomayor,<\/a> the most senior liberal and third woman justice, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett,<\/a> the most junior conservative and 5th woman justice, held a rare public conversation Thursday night in what appeared to be at least partly a bid toward lowering the temperature of debate.<\/p>\n In this April 23, 2021, file photo, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett stands during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Pool\/Getty Images, FILE<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “We like each other. We really do,” Barrett said of her relationship with Sotomayor and her other colleagues. “As is often joked, this is like a marriage. We have life tenure and we get along.”<\/p>\n “Fundamentally, they are good people,” Sotomayor said of her colleagues.<\/p>\n![\"PHOTO:](\"https:\/\/s.abcnews.com\/images\/Politics\/justice-amy-coney-barrett-gty-jt-220728_1659052961468_hpEmbed_3x2_992.jpg\"\/)
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