Chief Justice John Roberts privately tried to sway other justices not to overturn Roe v. Wade, only to be thwarted by the unprecedented draft leak: report

• CNN reported that the chief justice tried to convince other justices not to overturn the case.

• The draft opinion leak on May 2 was a factor in Roberts' downfall.

• The Supreme Court made a decision on June 24.

CNN reported Tuesday that Chief Justice John Roberts tried to sway other justices to uphold the decision before it was made public.

The leaked draft opinion shows that five of the Supreme Court's conservative justices were prepared to throw out the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion.

Multiple sources familiar with Roberts' conversations told CNN that the chief justice had already been trying to convince the other justices to change their minds on the case.

CNN reported that the leaked draft opinion crushed Roberts' plan to keep some of the abortion procedure intact. According to CNN, the draft opinion only solidified the justices' original votes and made it more urgent for the court to release its final decision.

According to CNN, the justices became aware that Politico obtained the draft opinion at the end of April and waited until the evening of May 2 to publish it.

The leak angered Roberts, who said it was a betrayal of the confidences of the court and that it would not succeed.

According to reports, Roberts wanted to maintain the core principle that women have the right to abortion. The chief justice wanted to eliminate the viability line, which allowed abortion until 24 weeks of pregnancies. Multiple news reports at the time said that Roberts was open to uphold the Mississippi law that sought to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancies.

Roberts' middle ground approach didn't work. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion rights on June 24th.

The opinion was written by Alito and he stated that the States may regulate abortion now. A number of Republican-led states have banned abortion after the ruling.

Roberts was in favor of the conservative majority's decision to uphold the Mississippi law, but disagreed with the court's three liberals against tossing out the abortion law. The chief justice wrote that the federal right to an abortion is a serious blow to the legal system.

Roberts said the court's opinion and dissent show a freedom from doubt on the legal issue that he can't share.

A representative for the Supreme Court didn't reply immediately.

Business Insider has an article on it.