The Chief Stands Alone: Roberts, Roe and a Divided Supreme Court

On a US Supreme Court dominated by an ambitious conservative wing, Chief Justice John Roberts has become a man on an island.

The 67-year-old chief justice, appointed in 2005 by Republican President George W. Bush, is a conservative trying to chart an incremental course for a court that would rather take giant leaps.

In the historic abortion ruling released Friday, Roberts tried to find a middle ground. He issued his own opinion joining the conservative majority in support of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion law, but siding with the court’s three liberal justices in opposing the majority’s decision to overturn Roe ...