I had no huge concerns about the Bush nomination of Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. to fill the Supreme court vacancy. After all, this Harvard-educated attorney/judge is widely respected on both sides of the political aisle as brilliant, cautious and fair-minded. He's a special protege of Chief Justice Rehnquist, who's been a solid if moderately conservative court leader. And Roberts' track record of reliable rulings and cases has been remarkable: As a judge, Roberts authored 40 opinions, only 3 of which drew any dissent, and he won 25 of 39 cases he argued in front of the Supreme Court.

I had no deep concerns about Roberts.....but then came the flip-flop, and the familiar stomach-churning suspicion of all things Bush/Cheney has returned to color Judge Roberts' nomination.

When the President announced the Roberts nomination last week, all major media outlets reported, to little surprise, the Federalist Society as part of the Judge's resume. Founded in 1982, the Federalist Society primarily works to challenge what it views as the liberal slant of US law schools. It now has chapters at the top-20 ranked law schools, as well as 125 other campuses.

Membership rolls of the Federalist Society are kept secret, although many members are publicly known....among them, conservative Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, former US Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork, Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, former independent counsel Kenneth Starr and hundreds more from the ultra-conservative legal ranks.

Well....it's understandable that Judge Roberts may not be thrilled for Senate Democrats to discover that he's compadres with Kenneth Starr, John Ashcroft and Clarence Thomas. But unless one's friends and colleagues lead shady lives, but that's hardly a deal-breaker for confirmation to the highest court. It's an embarrassment and conversation-catalyst, but it's not a deal-breaker.

But over this past weekend, the White House issued a "correction," stating that Judge Roberts has no memory of being a "member" of the Federalist Society. And then today, the Washington Post uncovered a 1997-98 Federalist Society Leadership Directory, listing Roberts as a steering committee member (i.e. leader) of the Society's Washington DC chapter.

Now, you and I know the standard Bush White House drill when faced with one of their own false statements. It's their story, and they're sticking with it. Reality, evidence and substance be damned! As today has ticked on, seems that this whole flip-flop hinges on the definition of "membership," rather than participation, leadership, attendance, support and agreement.

And Judge John G. Roberts, Jr, described last week in glowing terms as honest and above-reproach, now has no comment. And much less credibility.

I spent time last week writing a Personal Profile of Supreme Court Nominee Judge John G. Roberts, Jr, and I found a personal history remarkable for its ordinariness and decades-long blank spots. The press seems to be over-romanticizing the life story of a genial, good student, and emphasizing his few macho activities.

He attended an exclusive boarding school in his high school years, where he participated in choir and drama as well as the requisite 3 sports for his class of only 25 students. He was a bachelor until his early 40s, when he married an equally-accomplished, widely-traveled attorney with 4 college degrees. Judge and Mrs' Roberts' personal lives are a patchwork of subtle flip-flops, mysteries and contradictions.....with elements sure to comfort, or alarm, both conservatives and liberals.

For me it was comfort until the Federalist Society flip-flop. Now I'm not so sure. How about you?