You may be right. The reason I think Roberts might vote to strike down the ban is because he is Chief Justice. As such, the legacy of “his” court might sway him. I have no facts to support that, of course. Just a gut feeling, bolstered in part by his ruling on the ACA mandates.
I certainly agree he wants this to be his court not Kennedy’s. Still his vote on the health care mandate and his vote announced today on the subsidies each can be viewed as telling the voters they must live by their votes and his court is not going to bail them out.