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

  • Chief justice’s ability to sway Supreme Court majority waned
  • Roberts warned majority of legal jolt from ditching precedent
Chief Justice John Roberts is a conservative trying to chart an incremental course for a court that would rather take giant leaps.

Chief Justice John Roberts is a conservative trying to chart an incremental course for a court that would rather take giant leaps.

 Photographer: Erin Schaff/Pool/Getty Images

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.