For conservative jurists such as Alito and the predecessor to whom he is often compared, Antonin Scalia, rejection of Roe reflected sympathy for the pro-life position but, perhaps more important, a purist view of constitutional interpretation that abhorred progressive “legislating from the bench” generally.

If returning abortion to the state legislatures forces Republicans into politically difficult choices — well, so be it.

A partisan Republican, concerned with maximizing the party’s victories in November, would have backed the approach outlined in Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s concurring opinion, which upheld Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks — and left it at that. Roberts said such a law was consistent with the court’s Roe-based precedent even though the doctrine had never previously been interpreted that way.