Roberts Rankled Colleagues as High Court Hold Slipped, Book Says

A new book details how Chief Justice John Roberts lost control of an increasingly conservative US Supreme Court as it moved to overturn the constitutional right to abortion last year.

The book, written by veteran Supreme Court reporter and CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic and based in part on interviews with unnamed justices, describes conservative disgruntlement with Roberts leading up to the abortion case. The court voted 5-4 to toss out the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, with Roberts failing to persuade any of his colleagues to join him in a narrower ruling.

Chief Justice John Roberts during a State of the Union address in Washington, on Feb. 7.

Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

Biskupic writes in “Nine Black Robes” ...