WASHINGTON (AP) — Heavily redacted court filings released Tuesday shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States, the latest development in a legal fight by a conservative group that is pushing to find out whether Harry lied about past drug use on his immigration forms.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials responded to a request from U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols by saying the records were being “withheld in full" and that all records are deemed “categorically exempt from disclosure.”
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FILE - Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, cheers with Team Lithuania during Sitting Volleyball at the 2025 Invictus Games, in Vancouver, on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, file)
A heavily redacted declaration by Shari Suzuki is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A heavily redacted declaration by Jarrod Panter is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A heavily redacted declaration by Jarrod Panter is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A heavily redacted declaration by Catrina Pavlov Keenan is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
The case has centered on the circumstances under which Harry — the Duke of Sussex and the son of King Charles III — entered the U.S. when he and his wife Meghan Markle moved to Southern California in 2020. The Heritage Foundation sued after DHS largely rejected its Freedom of Information Act request to release Harry’s records. Harry is not a party in the lawsuit.
Heritage has argued there is “intense public interest” in knowing whether Harry received special treatment during the application process, particularly after his 2023 memoir “Spare” revealed past drug use. Harry has not consented to having his records made public, said Shari Suzuki, an official handling Freedom of Information Act requests for DHS and Customs and Border Protection.
“To release (Prince Harry's) exact status could subject him to reasonably foreseeable harm in the form of harassment as well as unwanted contact by the media and others," another official, DHS chief FOIA officer Jarrod Panter, wrote.
Panter wrote that the Heritage Foundation bears “the burden of establishing that the public interest in disclosure outweighs an individual’s personal privacy interests in their information and that a significant public benefit would result from the disclosure of the individual’s records.”
Panter's statement to the court includes multiple pages that are entirely blacked out.
Harry wrote in “Spare” that he took cocaine several times starting around age 17. He also acknowledged using cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms.
“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 wrote.
The U.S. routinely asks about drug use on its visa applications, a query that has been linked to travel headaches for celebrities, including chef Nigella Lawson, singer Amy Winehouse and model Kate Moss. Acknowledgment of past drug use doesn’t necessarily bar people from entering or staying in the country, but answering untruthfully can have serious consequences.
In a February hearing on the issue, Judge Nichols said he was seeking to strike a balance between revealing too much information in the DHS statements and redacting them to the point of meaninglessness.
“There’s a point where redactions would leave just a name or a date,” he said.
Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, cheers with Team Lithuania during Sitting Volleyball at the 2025 Invictus Games, in Vancouver, on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, file)
A heavily redacted declaration by Shari Suzuki is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A heavily redacted declaration by Jarrod Panter is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A heavily redacted declaration by Jarrod Panter is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
A heavily redacted declaration by Catrina Pavlov Keenan is photographed Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as newly released court documents shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
PARIS (AP) — Novak Djokovic placed ice packs around his neck and on top of his head during changeovers to keep cool amid the Paris heat wave at the French Open on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old Djokovic was pushed by 74th-ranked French player Valentin Royer — who is 15 years younger than him — for more than 3½ hours before he reached the third round with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (7), 6-3 victory.
For the fourth straight day of this year’s tournament, the temperature rose beyond 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit).
When Djokovic won a key point early in the fourth set with a forehand that he whipped around the net post from far off the court, the 24-time Grand Slam champion waved his arms toward the crowd inside Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Djokovic wasted a chance to close the match out earlier when he missed a backhand long in the third-set tiebreaker then required four more match points in his final service game before a forehand from Royer finally landed in the net to conclude a long rally.
Before arriving in Paris, Royer had earned only one tour-level win across 11 tournaments he played this season.
Djokovic came to Roland Garros with questions over his form after getting beat in his only clay-court match before the tournament. He lost to Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic at the Italian Open after two months out due to a right shoulder injury.
But Djokovic is playing himself back into form after coming back from a set down to beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, another Frenchman, in a first-round match that lasted nearly three hours.
Djokovic improved to 14-0 in his career against Frenchmen at Roland Garros and reached the third round in Paris for a 21st straight year. He raised the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy in 2016, 2021 and 2023.
One duo of Djokovic fans inside the main stadium held up a sign with a goat on it — for “Greatest of All Time” — that read “39 is the new 29.”
Up next for Djokovic is potentially a bigger test against either 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca or the 20-year-old Prizmic, who were playing later. Fonseca has been touted as a future Grand Slam contender, while Djokovic himself pointed to big things ahead for Prizmic after their meeting in Rome.
Later, second-seeded Alexander Zverev was playing Tomas Machac in the night session.
Elena Rybakina, this year’s Australian Open winner, was beaten by Ukrainian opponent Yuliia Starodubtseva 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Also advancing were in-form Ukrainians Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk, who are coming off trophies at the Madrid Open and Italian Open, respectively.
The seventh-seeded Svitolina beat Kaitlin Quevedo 6-0, 6-4 to extend her winning streak to eight matches. The 15th-seeded Kostyuk beat Katie Volynets 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 to extend her winning streak to 13 matches.
Four-time champion Iga Swiatek improved her career record at Roland Garros to 42-3 by eliminating 35th-ranked Sara Bejlek 6-2, 6-3.
Swiatek won Roland Garros in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Swiatek next faces Magda Linette in the first all-Polish meeting at Roland Garros in the professional era (since 1968). Linette eliminated 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
Also, 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic beat American opponent Caty McNally 6-4, 6-0.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts as he plays against Valentin Royer of France during their second round men's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Valentin Royer of France returns to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their second round men's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia cools himself with the ice during a break of the second round men's singles tennis match against Valentin Royer of France at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns to Valentin Royer of France during their second round men's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine serves to Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan returns to Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine reacts as she plays against Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan returns to Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after winning the first round men's singles tennis match against against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine returns to Kaitlin Quevedo of Spain during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic returns to Iga Swiatek of Poland during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Iga Swiatek of Poland returns to Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Iga Swiatek of Poland returns to Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic during their second round women's singles tennis match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
