It’s very perplexing. During the arguments before Roberts didn’t seem to indicate that he was favorable towards upholding the ACA. IIRC he was tough in his questioning of Verrilli.
“Roberts, too, had given the Obama administration faint hope. He wondered if the government could require everyone to buy cellphones, since that would facilitate the government’s system for providing fire and ambulance services in emergencies. He worried that if the court said requiring health-insurance purchases were constitutional because the health-care market was such a unique one — Verrilli repeatedly made that case, because no one can predict what services they will need and when — the government would simply come up with reasons that a different industry fit the bill.”
Somebody got to him and obviously “explained the benefits” to Roberts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZtyvlzVm7Y
It is, after all, the Chicago thug way.