Justice Roberts, Long Gamer

It is good Justice John Roberts did not kill reproductive rights for women yesterday in the case out of Louisiana. Yet, no one should get really happy. Reading his concurrence, Roberts appears to want to make sure the court remains locked squarely into the “undue burden” standard and that any attempt to expand beyond that standard under which abortion cases are decided shall be stopped. Women remain ideological pawns in someone’s odd game of freedom and surveillance; they are not free-thinking humans worthy of respect.

Roberts, it seems, could not in good faith rule that the Louisiana law was valid because just four years ago, the Supreme Court voted to invalidate a similar law out of Texas. He had to invalidate this one as well even though he wrote in dissent last time. Yet, Roberts didn’t want to waste his opportunity so while he joined the liberal bloc in upholding reproductive rights, he wrote separately. That means, only where they agree is actual law that can be considered solid going forward. Here’s a bit of Roberts’ opinion:

In the Louisiana case, Roberts went as far as to reject any balancing test in particular and based his decision solely on stare decisis. This law is the same as the Texas…