Prince Harry and Meghan apparently arrived in Austin, Texas on Thursday, ahead of Meghan’s International Women’s Day keynote panel discussion. Last night, according to People Magazine’s exclusive, they dined at Soho House Austin. Famously, their first date was at the Soho House in London, and Meghan is close friends with several people in the Soho House infrastructure. People reports that M&H “dined at a corner table” and an onlooker said: “They were happy and in great spirits. Harry was very animated throughout the dinner. They were super low key and seemed happy to be around the upbeat vibes at the lively venue.”
Meanwhile, there’s a ton of weird, good and bad news about the Sussexes this week, some of which I’m covering separately. One piece of good news: Harry’s Spare has been nominated for two British Book Awards, one nomination is narration audiobook nonfiction (done by Harry) and one nom in non-fiction narrative. Meanwhile, here’s some weird/bad news – remember how the Heritage Foundation keeps bringing unhinged lawsuits against the DHS in an attempt to “get” Harry’s visa application? Well, the judge in the latest case has now ordered DHS to provide him (the judge) Harry’s visa paperwork so he can see it for himself:
A judge has ordered the US government to hand over Prince Harry’s visa application as he considers whether it should be made public. Judge Carl Nichols told the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) that its arguments were “insufficiently detailed” amid a court battle over the release of the documents, stemming from revelations about the Duke of Sussex’s use of illegal drugs.
He ordered the agency to set out the contents of the Duke’s immigration papers and explain the “particular harm” that would be caused by disclosing them, the Daily Mail reported.
The DHS is fighting to prevent the publication of the documents after the Duke revealed he had taken cannabis, cocaine and magic mushrooms in his memoir – in apparent violation of US visa rules. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is seeking the release of his papers as part of a Freedom of Information request it submitted last year.
In an order filed to a court in Washington, Judge Nichols stated that the Freedom of Information law authorised him to review “declarations and/or contested records in camera” – meaning in private.
“Agency affidavits are insufficiently detailed to permit meaningful review of exemption claims… when the number of withheld documents is relatively small, and when the dispute turns on the contents of the withheld documents, and not the parties’ interpretations of those documents”, it said.
Judge Nichols gave the DHS until March 21 to detail “the records it is withholding and the particular harm that would arise from public disclosure of them”.
He said: “The court concludes that in camera review is necessary to determine whether the records in dispute come within the scope of the claimed exemptions’.
I take this to mean that the judge is (hopefully) just doing his due diligence and forcing DHS to explain legally why it would be a horrible precedent to release anyone’s visa/immigration paperwork whenever a rightwing think tank gets a bee up their bum. But who knows.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.