not sure if he joined in the opinion, but he did not dissent like his pals Thomas, Alito, & Gorsuch.

This was a denial of cert. It takes four votes to grant certiorari. Apparently only Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch voted in favor. They published a dissent from the Court's decision not to take the case, which isn't common, but not unknown.

in the eyes of the pro-lifers. That's a surprise. He could just be following Roberts, until he gets his sea legs.

The issue presented to the Supreme Court was whether, in an instance where a state has dropped a particular provider as a "qualified" Medicaid provider, not only the provider, but also Medicaid recipients have a "private right of action" to challenge that decision.

Five appeals courts have found that there is such a private right and one has gone the other way. The decision going the other way (from the 8th Circuit) was decided in 2017 and further review of that decision was not sought. This year the Court had before it two petitions (one from the 5th Circuit and one from the 10th circuit) challenging court rulings finding that there is a private right of action. Both of those petitions were denied today, with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissenting in both instances. Since it only takes four justices for the court to decide to hear a case, it means that the other six justices did not support hearing the case.

The good news is that the decisions upholding a private right of action (both the recent ones as well as three earlier ones) remain binding in those circuits. Somewhat oddly, however, in one part of the country -- the area covered by the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals --Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota -- there is no private right of action.

The fact that there is a private right of action, of course, does not in and of itself mean that a challenge to a state's action in removing a provider, such as Planned Parenthood, from its "qualified" provider list will succeed -- but obviously the fact that individual recipients have the right to challenge decisions that limit who they can use for medical services and receive Medicaid coverage is a big help.

They may both vote to save Roe if it comes down to it. I think Kavanaugh will be more moderate than expected. We can only hope.