Jeff Malet/Zuma
The assumption going ever since Brett Kavanugh was confirmed has been that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe at the first chance it got. The swing Justice, with the retirement of Anthony Kennedy, became John Roberts, an arch conservative but also the closest thing the court has to a political lily blowing in the judicial wind.
This is all still true, but there has been a development:
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say could have left the state with only one doctor in a single clinic authorized to provide abortions.
The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s four-member liberal wing.
According to the NYT push alerts that I received on my phone a few minutes ago, this seems to indicate that Roberts might not be so quick to join the anti-Roe brigade and upend everything. But according to my colleagues at Mother Jones who know more about this than I do but are not near a computer right now and cannot write this post themselves, this doesn’t mean Roe is safe. It merely gives a reason for hope.
People didn’t expect Roberts to side this way, but it doesn’t mean he’ll do it again.
But for now, good news!
