Good evening and welcome to WASHINGTON WEEK.

I'm Lisa Desjardins.

And what a week it is.

After weeks of confusion, the Supreme Court has finally weighed in on the most common form of abortion in the country, the use of a medication, Mifepristone.

The court ruling preserves access to the drug and declines restrictions on its use as the lawsuit over its FDA approval continues.

Joining me to discuss it in more are John Yang, who covers the Supreme Court for the PBS Newshour and is also the anchor of PBS News Weekend.

Joining me here at the table, Nandita Bose, White House Correspondent at Reuters, Heather Caygle, Managing Editor for Punchbowl News, Michael Scherer, National Political Reporter at The Washington Post, and Scott Wong, Senior Congressional Reporter for NBC News.

John Yang, let's start with you.

We've got breaking news.

Help us understand what did the court say tonight.

JOHN YANG, Anchor, PBS New Weekend: Well, As you said, Lisa, they said Mifepristone will remain available without any new restrictions while the appeal of the Texas judge's decision that invalidated Mifepristone's approval by the FDA back in 2000 works its way through the system.

Now, because this was an emergency appeal in what's know -- become known as the shadow docket, we don't know exactly the breakdown among the justices.

We do know that there were only two noted dissents, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito.

The majority did not explain their decision and only Alito explained his opposition to this.

He said that he did not think allowing Mifepristone to remain available with the restrictions that the Fifth Circuit put on it would cause irreparable harm to the public.

LISA DESJARDINS: So then, John, is it correct, this means that the use of Mifepristone essentially stays exactly as it was as week ago, no change for the time being?

JOHN YANG: Well, a year ago, you didn't have it by mail, which is now permanent.

But the restrictions are -- but there are no new restrictions.

The Fifth Circuit's ruling would have put -- gone back to 2016, would have limited it to pregnancies in the seventh week rather than the tenth week.

It would have required three doctor's visits instead of one.

It would he said you couldn't get it from nurses, midwives or physician's assistants, you had to go to a physician, and it said you could not get it through the mail.

LISA DESJARDINS: And, instead, the Supreme Court is saying, no, we are going back to the policy before we saw this court ruling out of Texas.

John Yang, thank you so much for joining us and for your reporting and we will see you tomorrow night on PBS News Weekend on Saturday, Sunday.

Now, to the table, Nandita, I want to start with you.

You have covered abortion policy significantly.

How significant is this tonight?

NANDITA BOSE, White House Correspondent, Reuters: This is a huge win for the administration and the White House.

I was just talking to a senior White House official who said they are celebrating.

And the president was made aware of this decision by his senior advisers, and he green lit the statement that went out and they are sort of pausing, taking it all in and still preparing for what comes next because this is a case -- the decision was about an appeal for a stay and there could be future legal cases that are bought that decide the fate of the pill.

So, the White House is celebrating but it is a temporary relief.

What I will also add is that the strategy going forward is going to focus on preserving access, making sure the pill is available around the country.

Retailers around the country can sell the pill.

Law enforcement officials cannot easily access records of women who are traveling out of state to get an abortion.

So, the administration is going to focus on some of those things.

And there are also a flurry of meetings, from what I understand, focusing on kind of the political calculus, which is making sure that this remains top of mind for voters, for young voters, for women going forward for '24.

And so they are sort of not losing sight of that just because of this decision.

LISA DESJARDINS: A victory for the White House, they are celebrating, if not the final answer to this.

But, Heather, for Republicans, is it possible that some Republicans have some political relief about this decision?

Where do you think Republicans are?

HEATHER CAYGLE, Managing Director, Punchbowl News: Yes, I think so, Lisa.

I mean, what we've seen since Roe v. Wade was overturned was there's a real disconnect between Republicans at the federal and state level.

Like look at Ron DeSantis in Florida, his legislator moved to enact a six-week abortion ban.

But Scott and I cover Republicans up here on Capitol Hill and they are really kind of all over the map.

It was easier to be for overturning Roe v. Wade.

Now, you are getting into very complicated issues about when should we restrict abortion, what week, and how and what exceptions do we have, whereas if you look Democrats, they are unified generally around the idea of abortion access and voters are overwhelmingly with them on some abortion access at some level.

So, the politics have really turned on this in a way that Democrats are able to present this unified message and Republicans are just kind of all over the map.

LISA DESJARDINS: And on that question, Michael?

MICHAEL SCHERER, National Political Reporter, The Washington Post: Yes.

There is a remarkable moment on Thursday, where Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican Party, went to the Reagan Library.

She gave a long speech and then sort of not noticed by many.

But in the middle of that speech, she said Republicans have to be really worried about being -- appearing as extreme on abortion.

Like Republican is a pro-life party, but they got beat bad in the midterm elections on this.

And she actually says in that speech it is a winning message to say you are for 15 weeks.

We're talking about Mifepristone.

We are talking about seven weeks, ten weeks, in the case of Ron DeSantis in Florida, we're talking about six weeks.

In '22, in the midterms, a lot of candidates got tripped up by saying they didn't believe in exceptions for rape, incest and life for the mother.

I mean, right now, this debate is entirely on the Democratic field and no one is talking about what Republicans want to be talking about, which is the sort of rare cases of very late term abortion some Democrats support.

And you said the White House is very excited.

I hear the same thing.

Democrats, the White House, the nascent, non-existent Biden campaign, they are all really bullish right now that in 2024, abortion will appear on the polls in the same way it did during the midterms.

LISA DESJARDINS: And we also noticed, of course, that former President Trump got criticism from the right, the Susan B. Anthony Group, anti-abortion group, criticized him as being not for a federal ban, but instead stressing states.

Scott Wong, I see you nodding.

What are you hearing from Democrats and Republicans on the Hill?

SCOTT WONG, Senior Congressional Reporter, NBC News: Well, in the Trump case, he was getting a lot of pressure to weigh in on Ron DeSantis' six-week abortion ban in Florida.

Now, Ron DeSantis himself, as Heather alluded to, signed that bill, very quiet, private ceremony.

LISA DESJARDINS: 11:00 P.M. at night.

SCOTT WONG: Didn't know to advertise this, sent a press release at 11:00 P.M. at night, and not a whole lot of fanfare, not like the usual Ron DeSantis press conference.

Trump had been silent for more than a week on that ban in his home state, under pressure questioning from reporters.

President Trump, his campaign, put out a statement saying, look, it was my judges that overturned Roe v. Wade.

I appointed three of them, they got the job done.

They relegated decisions back to the states and I am fine with that.

He came under withering criticism from the Susan B. Anthony Groups, the other anti-abortion groups, saying that is not -- that does not go far enough, we are going to not support a candidate unless they want a federal ban on abortion nationwide.

LISA DESJARDINS: All right.

So, as you said, Nandita, the subtext is 2024.

I did some math.

This case that we're talking, that John Yang was talking about, that we had the ruling on tonight, temporary, but the case, the merits could get to the Supreme Court this fall.

It is being fast tracked.

Am I doing this right?

That means we could have a decision by spring of 2024?

Can you help us understand what that would do in a presidential race next year?

NANDITA BOSE: Absolutely.

I mean, we saw how Roe played out during the midterms and how beneficial it was, especially when it came down to boosting turnout.

And Democrats and the White House are consistently betting on that.

And, in fact, while they are celebrating now, politically speaking, this decision, if had it gone the other way, could have been a little bit more beneficial, which is why they are sort of regrouping and talking about how they can keep the issue alive for '24.

And they are talking to a lot of abortion rights groups to keep talking about this issue in front of female voters, in front of young voters.

So, once the decision comes down in 2024, it could potentially be very beneficial for the White House.

MICHAEL SCHERER: Its one of these issues that Democrats are excited about because they don't really have a primary on their side.

So, Biden kind of will shift towards the center and Republicans are going to be fighting amongst themselves.

Trump at his own rallies has warned Republicans not to go too far to the right on abortion.

And he's going to be on a debate stage at some point with Mike Pence and Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis and they are going to be fighting over abortion.

And that's exactly what Democrats want to be seeing in the fall.