WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law that could have left the state with a single abortion clinic. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. voting with the court’s four-member liberal wing but not adopting its reasoning. The chief justice said respect for precedent compelled him to vote with the majority even though he had voted to uphold an essentially identical Texas law in a 2016 dissent. Chief Justice Roberts has in the space of two weeks voted with the court’s liberal wing in three major cases — on job discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, on a program protecting young immigrants known as Dreamers and now on abortion. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for the four other justices in the majority, said the Louisiana law was “almost word-for-word identical” to the one from Texas that the Supreme Court struck down in the 2016 decision, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

Source: New York Times June 29, 2020 14:18 UTC