There have been reports from multiple outlets claiming that the judge has made a decision. Here’s what’s been circulating: Judge Carl Nichols submitted his decision to a court in D.C. in a sealed document after reviewing Harry’s Visa for four months. The decision could be made public in the coming days, which might jeopardize the Duke’s continued residence in the U.S.
On August 15th, Judge Carl Nichols signed a sealed ex parte order, a document that’s only accessible to authorized personnel. What does this really mean? Are people getting too excited?
Yeah, Andy, I think they are getting a bit ahead of themselves. Thanks for having me on, by the way. The words you just mentioned—sealed ex parte order—are key here. Let’s break those down, starting with the order itself. This is either the third or seventh order in this particular proceeding, depending on how you count them. So, that right there should signal that this isn’t some monumental moment that deserves a lot of hype.
If this was a major decision, we’d see it differently. If the judge had decided, for example, not to release the details, he would explain his reasons and rationale, especially because the Heritage Foundation might want to appeal. They’d need a decision with some textual context to base their appeal on.
In essence, an order is the judge giving an instruction to someone, but we don’t know who that someone is in this case.
It could be anything. For instance, the order might be addressing something the judge didn’t like about what one of the attorneys or a side in the case has done, instructing them to stop doing it. The scope of the order could range widely, anything within the judge’s authority to issue an order about.
It could potentially lead to a decision. The judge has had this case for about four months now. The last docket entry was in April, and oral arguments were back in February. One possibility is that the judge might have gone to one side—specifically Homeland Security—and said something along the lines of, “I think the contents of this file should be released unless there’s something in there that could potentially harm diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the U.K. or pertains to national security.”
For example, if this were a case about a nuclear submarine (which it obviously isn’t), the judge might check with a party to make sure sensitive information isn’t disclosed. So, the order could be about something like that.
So, if there were concerns about ramifications, could it be that something was wrong with the case, and the judge is giving someone time to fix it before making it public
That’s possible, but let’s not jump to conclusions. We have to remember that sometimes the hype around these things can make people think there’s more to it than there actually is. If it were just a matter of “I looked through it, there’s nothing significant, case closed,” then sealing an order would seem unnecessary unless something really bizarre or sensitive was involved.
It would be, but I find it hard to believe that Homeland Security would be involved in a conspiracy. There’s been speculation that the sealed order indicates something is being swept under the rug or that the judge is compromised. But I’m confident that’s not the case. There’s no two-tiered justice system at play here.
I do think something will come down the pipeline soon—likely a decision saying either “No, I’m not going to grant this Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Heritage Foundation to see Prince Harry’s visa application,” o
