Prince Harry’s visa documents will not be made public, a judge has ruled in a major victory for the Duke of Sussex.
In a court decision Monday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said the British royal had a “reasonable interest in privacy” in connection with her U.S. immigration paperwork and therefore those files should remain private.
However, the judge acknowledged that Harry had revealed “intimate details” of his life in his 2023 memoir, “Spare,” including a description of freezing his genitals and his history of recreational drug use.
She also noted that Harry’s privacy interests were somewhat diminished by the fact that he was a public figure, according to the court filing obtained by DailyMail.com.
Prince Harry, pictured in New York on Monday, has scored a major court victory after a judge ruled that his US visa case will remain sealed.
The Duke of Sussex’s visa application was thrown into doubt after he admitted in his 2023 memoir to having used several drugs for recreational purposes, something he would have had to disclose on immigration paperwork. He is pictured with wife Meghan Markle in London in 2022
The decision comes after Judge Nichols spent five months reviewing Harry’s immigration record as part of a case brought by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank based in Washington, DC.
Heritage sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the agency, which oversees immigration, refused to release a Freedom of Information request for Harry’s files.
Heritage claims Harry may have lied on the forms in the section that asks if you have used drugs.
In his memoir, ‘Spare,’ and his Netflix television series, Harry spoke about using cannabis, cocaine and magic mushrooms.
In court in Washington, DC, Judge Nichols noted that Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” sold more than 1.4 million copies on its first day of sale and became a New York Times bestseller.
Judge Nichols said the book “shares intimate details of his life” including “numerous instances” of Harry taking drugs.
In the judge’s opinion, Harry had a “reasonable interest in the privacy of his immigration records.”
In a court decision issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said the court agrees that “Prince Harry’s privacy interest outweighs any public interest.”
The judge’s ruling states that Harry’s memoirs had included “intimate details of his life”
Judge Nichols said Heritage “is partially correct that, as a public figure, Duke’s public statements tend to diminish his privacy interests compared to ordinary foreign citizens admitted to the United States.”
The opinion says, “But (Heritage) goes too far in arguing that the privacy interest is so diminished by its public statements as to be de minimis,” using a Latin word meaning very small.
Harry opened up about using drugs including cannabis, cocaine and magic mushrooms in his 2023 memoir, ‘Spare,’ as well as in his Netflix television series.
Judge Nicholas added that the Duke’s public statements about his drug use did not negate his interest in keeping information about his immigration status private.
In particular, the judge said that Harry had never disclosed “the following facts,” but the next paragraph is redacted.
Heritage’s argument that disclosing Harry’s paperwork would shed light on the workings of DHS “fails,” the ruling said.
“For the reasons set forth above, the public does not have a strong interest in the disclosure of the Duke’s immigration history,” the order states.
The judge said some documents presented to him by DHS were “of particular relevance,” but the sentence was followed by a large paragraph that is redacted.
Another large section of “particularly relevant” information was also removed.
In April, DHS turned over Harry’s immigration paperwork for Judge Nichols to review.
In March, DHS lawyers asked for more time to comply with a judge’s order to provide more information about why it did not want to release the records.
In March, Judge Carl Nichols (left) ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide more information about why its immigration data should be kept secret. Nile Gardiner (right) of the Heritage Foundation is leading the freedom of information request.
I wanted to see the “particular harm” that would arise if the material were made public.
Judge Nichols told the Department of Homeland Security that its arguments so far, including during a hearing in February, were “insufficiently detailed” for him to make a decision.
The case took on a new dimension in light of the presidential election, when Donald Trump suggested he might deport Harry if he wins in November.
The dismissal of the case spares Harry from having to make future embarrassing revelations about his personal life.
During the February hearing, a DHS lawyer claimed that Harry may have lied about his drug use to boost sales of Spare.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bardo told the court in Washington: “The book is not sworn testimony or evidence.
‘Saying something in a book doesn’t necessarily make it true.’
In legal documents, Heritage claimed Harry’s discussion of drugs was so blatant that it “verged on the point of bragging about and encouraging illegal drug use.”
