How John Roberts became the story In a 2010 Pew poll less than three in ten Americans knew that John Roberts was the Chief Justice of the United States. But, his pivotal role in Thursday's Supreme Court decision to uphold President Obama's health care law might well turn Roberts into a more household name. According to Google data, searches for Roberts soared between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. eastern time Thursday, far outdistancing other terms like "individual mandate" and "SCOTUS." Here's a chart from the good people at Google detailing the top five rising search terms over that critical three hours on Thursday.