[Bostwick]

From CNN's live blog [1]:

  Chief Justice John Roberts had noted that however that the
  mandate would have been struck down based on the commerce 
  clause , saying it would "open a new and vast domain" for 
  Congressional power.
  ...
  Chief Justice John Roberts issued a long opinion in which 
  he said the controversial individual mandate may be upheld 
  and is within Congress’ power under the taxing clause 
  rather than the commerce clause.

This helped me understand their decision. I'm still not sure what to make of the decision, personally.

[1] http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/28/how-will-supreme-court-...

[ctdonath]

Legal semantics aside, practical upshot: Now you can be compelled to buy any product, under threat of fine.

[tocomment]

The federal government would never abuse that though.