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>> presidential recordings. find it on the c-span now mobile app. washington journal continues. host: greg stohr is with us. he is the supreme court reporter for bloomberg here to talk about the future of roe v. wade in the wake of the leaked draft. when you heard the news of that leak and saw that draft decision come out, what were your initial thoughts? >> i was driving so my initial thought was that i better pull over or i might hit somebody. it was stunning in many ways. nothing like this has ever happened in my time in the court. for leaked draft to come out. the result of it perhaps wasn't that surprising given the way the argument went.

it was certainly a possibility that the court might say we are going to overturn roe v. wade. the fact that it came out like this was stunning. host: in terms of covering the court, it's a very insular institution. you don't get to talk to the justices. for information to come out like this, it's never really happened before. >> we have seen a few examples in recent years about the deliberations getting leaked out and we have seen other examples after the fact of reporters who have learned some of some of the maneuvering that went on behind-the-scenes in a case. the sort of thing where the entire draft opinion comes out, nothing has come close to it. host: this is a draft opinion reportedly written back in february and the mississippi abortion case.

>> that's right. host: what does the mississippi law do? >> the law would ban abortion. mississippi asked the court to take up the case and after justice barrett was confirmed to the court, mississippi asked the court go even further and explicitly overturn roe. host: has the court ruled on any of the abortion cases it has heard? >> it has ruled on that texas case about whether abortion is a constitutional right's. whether this texas law, there was a way to challenge that and block it before it went into effect. the court dealt with that on an emergency basis and they essentially said there is not a

way you can challenge that law. there was another kentucky case that was even more of the procedural question regarding whether the attorney general could take over the state's defense of its abortion law. host: could the justices decide to completely overturn roe v. wade? >> if all they do is uphold the mississippi law, at a minimum they're going to cut the basis of road which said up until the point of fetal viability, states can't restrict abortion or place an undue burden on abortion. there's really no way they can uphold the mississippi law without undercutting the basis of rental and cases -- casey.

host: future of road tests the cloud of roberts. how has the makeup of the court and the dynamics of the court with no six conservative justices including the chief justice, how has chief justice roberts role changed with the newer addition of those justices? >> it has changed dramatically. there was a period where john roberts was both the chief justice and the median judges for the cases that divide the court along ideological lines. he really controlled almost everything. once

how did they come to a consensus on decision or decided case? >> after the argument they always have a private conference where they take an initial vote within a week or two after that,

the senior justice and the majority and this appears to be justice thomas, gets to assign the opinion to somebody and that person drafts what will be a majority opinion and other justices can say i joined that opinion and i agreed to be of art of it and then they start writing the consents as well -- the dissents as well. host: a more in-depth look at several in those it -- in the draft. when you read the draft, did it comport to what you heard from justice alito in particular, the questions he may have asked during the mississippi case during oral argument? guest: it did and it comports with what he set on the bench and his of units and speeches over the years where he wants to look at the constitution from an

originalist perspective. he looks at it in terms of the history and traditions that surrounded that. there were parts of the opinion or you could see he nodded toward another justice like justice barrett who raise the idea that these safe haven laws that let a pregnant woman leave the baby somewhere and not be prosecuted for that, that was something she raised the argument and he mentioned it as an aside in the opinion so you can see pieces of the opinion where he may have been trying to attract the support of the other justices. host: do you think the final decision will be written by justice alito? guest: that would seem to be the case. the dynamic seems to be that the chief justice had been and perhaps still is trying to convince one of the other justices may be kavanaugh or

barrett, to join him in a decision. if so, we might end up with two different camps in the majority. host: let's hear from her first caller from that he in stockton, california, good morning. caller: good morning, i'm a baptist minister. as i read in god we trust, i think these ladies would wait until marriage before they get into sexual activity. i think they would not need to be an abortion. i'm against murder when you take a fetus and end his life. i think it's a travesty to america step we murder so many

people before birth and after birth. i am totally against roe v. wade. i wish it was overturned. thank you. host: what are some of the other highlights from the draft that justice alito wrote? guest: the basic framework was orson is not all right mentioned in the kind -- constitution and it wasn't mentioned in the constitution, it can be protected only if it's deeply rooted in the nation's history. he spent a lot of time talking about english common law and laws that were in place throughout american history including around the time of the 14th amendment when it was enacted after the civil war. that seems to be a core of the decision and that's one of the areas will people on the other set of the issue had been pushing back in terms of his analysis. host: democrats are pushing back

with legislation that has all ready been passed and will be taken up wednesday, the women's health protection act and the majority leader in the senate filing closure on that and that will be coming up for a vote would advanced -- to advance that bill this wednesday in the u.s. senate and live coverage will be on c-span2. mike is up next in st. louis, democrats line, go ahead. caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. it's a complex issue but i will read from page 65 from the draft. roe and casey must be overruled to regulate abortions must be returned -- ok, never mind. my computer page just went off,

i apologize. roe and casey must be overruled and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives. i live in missouri and we have the trigger law and a lot of state legislatures did not know how they would and they thought it would go back to the states which is kind of true. if the five justices wanted to go back to the state legislatures, they should have said that but they didn't. they said it would be returned to the people and their elected representatives so i hope the people get to vote on this. i think viable fetuses have a right to life. i know they don't say that in roe v. wade specific viable fetuses have a right to life in these five justices, when they said roe v. wade should be dismissed, they did away