Roberts’ Position Dismays Conservatives, Surprises President

The chief justice treads a very narrow path to find the health law constitutional and helps to redefine the public's view of the court.

NPR: Chief Justice Robert's Vote Saves Health Care Law
By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court upheld almost all of the 2010 health care law. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four more liberal members in saying it is constitutional under Congress' right to levy taxes (Totenberg, 6/29).

The Wall Street Journal: Roberts Straddles Ideological Divide
With the ruling he crafted that largely upheld President Obama's Affordable Care Act, Chief Justice Roberts reframed the court and his tenure at its helm (Jones and Kendall, 6/28).

The Fiscal Times:  Roberts Saves Health Law And Maybe Obama's Job
With a vote that shocked conservatives, Roberts joined the liberal wing of the court to preserve the heart of the landmark legislation designed to extend coverage to 33 million uninsured Americans. By calling the penalties for failing to buy insurance a tax, Roberts was able to join the four liberals on the nine-member court to form a majority in favor of the law. The stunning turnabout after months of speculation that the court would strike down the individual mandate – if not the entire law – was an unalloyed political victory for Obama (Pianin, 6/29).

USA Today: Chief Justice's Role Takes Ironic Turn
Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion for a fractured court Thursday, joining the court's four liberal justices in upholding the central pillar of the health care overhaul, which requires that Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty. It was an unusual lineup for a court that often cleaves along predictable lines, and it put the usually conservative chief justice between two factions on the court with dramatically different views of how powerful the federal government should be (Heath, 6/28).

Reuters: Analysis: Why Roberts Saved Obama's Healthcare Law
In the end, it all came down to Chief Justice John Roberts, the sphinx in the center chair, who in a stunning decision wove together competing rationales to uphold President Barack Obama's healthcare plan. Roberts' action instantly upended the conventional wisdom that he would vote with his four fellow conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and undercut the agenda of a Democratic president, who as a senator in 2005 had opposed Roberts' appointment to the bench (Biskupic, 6/29).

The Associated Press: Roberts Delivers For President Who Had Opposed Him
As a junior senator, Barack Obama voted against John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court, fearing he would favor the powerful over the weak. Now it is Roberts who has saved the signature achievement of Obama's presidency, the health care overhaul, in a ruling that challenges critics' assertions that the chief justice is nothing more than a conservative ideologue (Benac, 6/28).

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling Gives Obama A Political Boost
The Supreme Court's surprise healthcare ruling was a lift for President Obama, preventing what would have been an embarrassing setback in an election year. And it came from an unexpected source — a conservative jurist whose confirmation Obama voted against as a senator (West, 6/29).