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What a difference a month can make.

On January 7, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the United States Senate (web site) for denying Roland Burris his position as the junior senator from Illinois. Now, we're calling for Burris to resign. And we're not alone. Even the liberal Washington Post is urging Burris to step down.

What happened in the last five weeks to provoke such a change of heart? Burris apparently lied about his contacts with disgraced and impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested in December 2008 for trying to "sell" President Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.

Here's the story according to Reuters (web site):

Roland Burris came under fresh scrutiny on Tuesday after disclosing he tried to raise money for the disgraced former Illinois governor who named him to the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.

Michael Madigan, the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, said he had turned over testimony and records to a county prosecutor in Springfield, the state capital, for review following a series of new disclosures from Burris.

In the latest of those admissions, Burris said he looked into mounting a fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich -- later charged with trying to sell Obama's Senate seat -- at the same time he was expressing interest to the then-governor's aides about his desire to be appointed.

By The Washington Post's count, Burris has changed his story five times regarding his contacts with Blagojevich prior to the Illinois governor appointing him to the U.S. Senate. Three of those changing explanations came under oath.

Of course when the question was first raised, Burris said there was no contact with Blagojevich prior to the appointment. Now we learn Burris attempted to raise money for Blagojevich at the same time the former Illinois governor essentially put the Senate seat on the open market.

Burris says he has done nothing wrong and that he "intends to fight." Remember, we heard very similar words from Blagojevich -- just before he was impeached. The Senate Ethics Committee is now investigating. Burris didn't have many friends in the Senate. They were looking for a reason from the beginning to keep him out of the Senate. Now they've got one.

Senator Burris will probably resign if pushed. The Democratic leadership needs to push him by making it clear they will support an effort to expel him. If Senator Reid and the rest opposed Burris's seating with no evidence of misconduct, how can they support him now with all the evidence of perjury and public lies?

This is Obama's "seat" and so Obama can't stay out of it. His continuing silence will be seen as condoning Burris's behavior. With Obama's alleged concern for ethics and accountability, Obama neutrality on Burris is untenable.

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