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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

TRENDING - Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. is on a roll—and it’s to the left. Siding with the Supreme Court’s liberal wing on Wednesday, he saved—for now—the life of an Alabama death row inmate. As Tony Mauro reports, the decision in Madison v. Alabama is the latest in several recent instances in which Roberts has sided with the liberal justices. In another death row case just last week, Roberts wrote a curt concurrence to a decision to send a case back to the state’s criminal appeals court. Mauro notes that Roberts, as an “institutionalist,” appears particularly compelled to protect the dignity of the judiciary—and to make sure lower courts follow the Supreme Court’s instructions.