On Tuesday, after this article was published, Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion and said he was ordering an investigation into the disclosure. If the Alito draft is adopted, it would rule in favor of Mississippi in the closely watched case over that state’s attempt to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The document, labeled as a first draft of the majority opinion, includes a notation that it was circulated among the justices on Feb. How Chief Justice John Roberts will ultimately vote, and whether he will join an already written opinion or draft his own, is unclear.
The three Democratic-appointed justices - Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan - are working on one or more dissents, according to the person. A person familiar with the court’s deliberations said that four of the other Republican-appointed justices - Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - had voted with Alito in the conference held among the justices after hearing oral arguments in December, and that line-up remains unchanged as of this week.
