The nomination of John G. Roberts, Jr. to the Supreme Court shouldn't be shocking or surprising to anyone.

President George W. Bush on Tuesday announced the conservative Washington legal insider as his choice to become the 109th Supreme Court justice.

Roberts isn't very well known nationally. Ask your local State College proprietor who John Roberts is and the answer might go something like: "I don't know. Should I?" Now it's obvious that everyone should've known, and will come to know, just who Roberts the person -- and more importantly, Roberts the legal mind -- really is.

And that's the point. Passing judgment on the nominee with expressions of anger or joy (depending on the particular point of view) will initially resemble "Roberts will overturn Roe v. Wade" for some, or "Roberts will uphold the Patriot Act" for others. And many more are quite content with Bush's choice.

But there's absolutely no way of knowing if Roberts will do any of these things just yet. So what do we know?

We know this: Roberts is young for the court (50 years old), a former Eagle Scout, a broad shouldered former Indiana high school footballer (team captain), a Roman Catholic, a summa cum laude graduate of one of our countries most prestigious universities (Harvard), a magna cum laude graduate of one of America's top law schools (Harvard, again), a former clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist (who's a conservative), a member of the Federalist Society Bush has used for other judicial nominations (it's been called "ultra-conservative"), a lawyer in the George H.W. Bush administration, and a writer of a brief that stated, "We continue to believe that Roe [v. Wade] was wrongly decided and should be overruled."

But don't worry. There have been plenty of reminders out there regurgitating Roberts' "moderate" tendencies, too. During his 2003 confirmation for the appeals court Roberts said, "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land," and that "There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."

And apparently we're supposed to be placated that Roberts has a homey, "self-deprecating" humor and a humble, smart demeanor. Does this mean that Roberts will become another conservative "yes-man?" There's really no way of knowing. After all, Roberts' predecessor, Sandra Day O'Connor, was labeled a conservative when tapped by President Reagan, and she has been called nothing but a "moderate swing-voter" since her resignation.

The fact is that Roberts fits the Bush old-boy-network profile to a comfy T. And that's something many may find rather uncomfortable.