WASHINGTON (AP) - Chief Justice John Roberts could have taken down the entire, massive health care law that his fellow Republicans deride as "Obamacare."

He could have prevented the Supreme Court decision that largely disabled the most disputed aspects of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants.

He didn't do either, and in the process surprised - or dismayed - longtime court observers of every political stripe.

Those two outcomes in the finals days of his seventh year on the court offer some clues for re-assessing what kind of chief justice Roberts is and intends to be.

At the very least, the end of the Roberts court's most consequential term already is leading to revised, and in some cases more nuanced, appraisals of his leadership.