What does this mean in English?
Sounds like it means the Court will be asked to rule on a narrower, more technical question that bears on the legality of ObamaCare.
The Court was not willing to summarily throw the whole mess into the garbage can. They did, however, (IIRC) signal their willingness to look at individual aspects of the law once those aspects had been argued through the lower courts.
There are many of these aspects, and this one is important because it goes to the issue of what is a tax. This question, as I understand it, brings Constitutional issues into the discussion.
Also keep in mind the "non-separability" aspect of ObamaCare. If any one piece of it is excrement-canned, the whole thing goes down the chute.
“grant certiorari” basically means the court is taking the case.
That they didn’t say today they would or wouldn’t means they’re still looking at the merits of taking it, instead of just rejecting it outright (like >96% of all submitted cases). That they’re continuing to look at it means it’s got about a 50/50 chance of being accepted, though probably with some modifications (some cases would be rejected outright as submitted, but contain some element that the Court feels must be addressed, so they trim it accordingly).
Certiorari means the Supreme Court will hear the case.
This case is important because if the plaintiffs prevail, then obamacare goes bye-bye. It will at least be shut down in 34 states if plaintiffs prevail and it is doubtful to survive if only 16 states are implementing it.