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The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say could have left the state with only one doctor in a single clinic authorized to provide abortions. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s four-member liberal wing to form a majority. That coalition underscored the pivotal position the chief justice has assumed after the departure last year of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who used to hold the crucial vote in many closely divided cases, including ones concerning abortion. (Liptak, 2/7)

The court’s action, which split the justices 5 to 4, wasn’t a ruling on the merits of the case but a preliminary order that prevents Louisiana from enforcing the restrictions while abortion-rights advocates challenge a lower-court ruling that sided with the state. (Kendall and Bravin, 2/7)

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberals in putting a hold on the law, pending a full review of the case. President Donald Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, were among the four conservative members of the court who would have allowed the law to take effect. Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting opinion in which he said the court’s action was premature because the state had made clear it would allow abortion providers an additional 45 days to obtain admitting privileges before it started enforcing the law. (Sherman, 2/8)

Three years ago, the Supreme Court struck down the Texas law that added new restrictions on abortion clinics and did so by a 5-3 vote with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in the majority. The court’s opinion said the Texas regulations were unconstitutional because they would not improve the quality of medical care and would sharply limit access to abortion for hundreds of thousands of women who lived outside a major urban area. The decision in the Texas case was handed down a few months after Justice Antonin Scalia died. Dissenting then were Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. Since then, they have been joined by Trump’s two appointees, Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh. (Savage, 2/7)

The majority, as is custom, did not give a reason for granting the stay. But it seems likely the full court will now grant the case a full briefing and review, and perhaps reexamine its earlier decision, which was made by a very different Supreme Court. In the court’s 2016 decision, it said the admitting-privileges requirement “provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an ‘undue burden’ on their constitutional right to do so.” (Barnes, 2/7)

The earliest the Supreme Court could hear arguments on the law's merits would be in October, though the case could be pushed into 2020. Abortion providers say the lengthy wait would have devastated abortion access in the state, even if the Supreme Court eventually overturned the Louisiana law. "Clinics forced to close for a year or more don't have the financial wherewithal to spring back into business if the Supreme Court says the law is unconstitutional.“ said Travis Tu, the lead attorney on the case for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “By then, many doctors will have gotten other jobs or moved out of state." (Ollstein, 2/7)

Louisiana’s law, which requires that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, was enacted in 2014. But in recent days and weeks, there has been a flurry of new state legislation that could prove important if the nation’s highest court rules on more abortion-related cases. Since the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in July, abortion rights groups have warned of a threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion legal nationwide, prompting some states to try to shore up access to the procedure. Anti-abortion groups have been pushing for more restrictions. (Jacobs and Stevens, 2/8)

Republicans are moving aggressively to force Democrats to answer for legislation to ease restrictions on late-term abortions and the recent controversial comments by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, sensing a new opening on a divisive issue that could be a factor in the 2020 elections. President Trump criticized New York Democrats and the embattled Virginia governor in his State of the Union address this week, accusing lawmakers of allowing “a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth” and Northam (D) of basically stating that “he would execute a baby after birth.” (Sullivan, Gearan and DeBonis, 2/7)