Under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the justices' regular Friday conferences, in which cases and tally votes are discussed, last longer. There are no leaks from the justices-only meetings, which take place behind closed doors, but it does not take a National Security Agency wiretap to conclude that the new chief justice runs a looser, more talkative conference than his predecessor, William H. Rehnquist, who was well known for keeping an eye on the clock and chatter to a minimum.