Why The Biden Administration Was Sued Over Prince Harry's Past Drug Use

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex famously ended up making their new home in California after they stepped back as working royals in 2020. It's where Meghan grew up, but for Harry, he's an immigrant in the U.S. As such, to work in the U.S., he had to apply for a visa. A part of applying for a visa involves answering questions about past drug use, and admitted drug use can be a reason to deny a visa; however, it's not a blanket denial, and the type of drug and when it was used is taken into consideration.

Some people are really interested in knowing if Prince Harry admitted to past drug use on his visa application. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, went so far as to sue the Biden administration to see if Harry admitted to his drug use, which he detailed in his memoir, on his visa application.

A few years after the move to California, Prince Harry's memoir "Spare" was released, and in it, he is open about his past drug use, including trying cocaine. "At someone's house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then I had consumed some more," Harry wrote. "It wasn't very fun, and it didn't make me feel especially happy as seemed to happen to others, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main objective. To feel. To be different." He also talks about using marijuana and magic mushrooms.

By mentioning his drug use in his memoir, Prince Harry has given up a right to privacy in regards to that aspect of his visa application, or so argues the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, explaining that their Freedom of Information Act request centered on wanting to know if Prince Harry, as a "celebrity elite," got preferential treatment in getting his visa application approved, and they want to know if he lied in the section on drug use or if he was given a waiver. The initial request was denied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In the ensuing lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it was stated that Prince Harry's visa application was a matter of "immense public interest."

The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that they would not be making Prince Harry's visa application public. "Much like health, financial, or employment information, a person's immigration information is private personal information," lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security said in response to the lawsuit in November 2023. "If the court accepts [Heritage Foundation's] arguments, the Government would need to reveal confidential immigration information about Prince Harry, a result the court should not adopt," according to The Independent.

Whether that will be a satisfactory enough answer for the Heritage Foundation remains to be seen. It seems unlikely though, considering that in August 2023, Nile Gardiner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at Heritage Foundation, told Daily Mail, "The Biden administration should come clean over what's contained in the immigration application. [...] Prince Harry himself should support the release of his immigration records — if he has nothing to hide." There has not yet been any public comment on the case from Prince Harry.