But if the goal is protecting institutions, there’s another factor worth considering: Roberts shouldn’t assume that the biggest threat to the court’s legitimacy comes from the left. Pulling the rug out from under conservatives (yet again) could result in some serious unintended consequences.

Upholding Roe—to preserve the court’s reputation—would constitute yet one more disappointment in which ostensibly conservative justices have twisted the text to uphold landmark legislation that benefits the left.

This action wouldn’t just demoralize people who have dedicated the last fifty years of their lives to this abolitionist cause, it would reinforce the growing notion that playing by the rules of democracy (winning elections, etc.) to bring about the “common good” is a waste of time. In other words, it would reinforce the yammerings of the illiberal right.