Chief Justice John Roberts emerges as U.S. Supreme Court's swing vote

WASHINGTON - Pivotal votes cast by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts in abortion and death penalty cases have underscored his new standing as the Supreme Court’s ideological center and the outsize role he may play in major rulings for years to come. Roberts, a genial 64-year-old conservative appointed in 2005 by Republican President George W. Bush, sided with the nine-member court’s four