The only thing that will moderate this court are the fact that a lot of conservative positions function better as GOTV than actual policies to be enacted

I don't think much of the six conservative Justices on the Court. I think the rhetoric about "judicial restraint" is bullshit and they are each highly partisan in their own way.

But they are not all idiots. The best hope that the ACA has to survive the current Supreme Court challenge (how many of these do we have to do?) is the fact that the ACA is a convenient law for Republicans to rail about. If conservatives manage to actually get rid of the law, it is going to cause immense pain among their voter base. Some of the conservative justices are smart enough to recognize this and, with life tenure, they are in a position to be the Judas and let the law survive for another highly partisan judicial challenge/rallying cry for voting base. As a bonus, a vote to uphold the ACA would help foster a fake reputation of judicial independence and nonpartisanship outside the world of rabid conservative ideologues.