In a stroke of legal coincidence, Prince Harry will be the subject of a court case in America on the same day he is due to appear in London’s High Court.
Lawyers are due in a federal courtroom in Washington DC to demand the US government release the Duke of Sussex’s US visa application form, a move which could result in his removal from the country.
The case hinges on how the Duke of Sussex answered questions about drug-taking on his US visa form when he applied for a visa allowing him to move to America in March 2020.
An American conservative political research group, the Heritage Foundation, has filed a lawsuit against America’s Department for Homeland Security (DHS) to establish if the correct rules were followed in granting the duke his visa.
In his Netflix series and in his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry admitted to having used cocaine, marijuana and magic mushrooms.
Under US law, admission of, or evidence of past drug use, can be grounds to reject a visa application.
Lawyers for the Heritage Foundation point to two key questions in the US DS160 visa form.
The first asks: “Have you ever been a drug abuser or addict?”
The second asks: “Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled substances?”
‘There’s a real serious question as to whether or not he should have been admitted’
Speaking to Sky News ahead of the court hearing, the counsel for the Heritage Foundation, Sam Dewey said: “The government has taken the position that ‘there’s nothing to see here’.
“We’ve taken the position that no, if you look through all the details of his admissions, you look at the drug laws, you look at the laws on admissions, there’s a real serious question as to whether or not he should have been admitted.”
He continued: “The alternative, if he didn’t disclose the drug use – then there’s a very serious question as to whether or not proceedings should have begun against him for that.”
Speaking on behalf of his client, Mr Dewey said the Heritage Foundation’s case was overwhelmingly in the public interest and based on a wider suspicion that the DHS is not acting according to procedure when granting visas.
