So far it’s been smoother sailing for John Roberts in terms of both the numbers (he’ll likely get the votes) and legitimacy (nothing sleazy has hung over his nomination) but is this a storm cloud? The Washington Post reports:
A file folder containing papers from Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr.’s work on affirmative action more than 20 years ago disappeared from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after its review by two lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department in July, according to officials at the library and the National Archives and Records Administration.
Archivists said the lawyers returned the file but it now cannot be located. No duplicates of the folder’s contents were made before the lawyers’ review. Although one of the lawyers has assisted in the Archives’ attempt to reconstruct its contents from other files, officials have no way of independently verifying their effort was successful.
An interesting coincidence…And:
It is rare for the Archives to lose documents in its care and the agency has requested an investigation by its inspector general, said Sharon Fawcett, the assistant archivist for presidential libraries.
The lost file has also aroused some concern on Capitol Hill. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, wrote yesterday to R. Duke Blackwood, executive director of the Reagan Library, asking that he “continue to investigate thoroughly” the missing affirmative action file and “clarify the basis upon which you believe you have reconstructed that file.” And Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) requested a Justice Department investigation because one of the agency’s lawyers had seen the documents involved.
This could mean that if the White House balks at handing over some documents to Roberts and it just so happens that documents disappeared at the Regan Archives’ after White House lawyers viewed them that Roberts will win confirmation (he will get the votes) but get on the court with questions that hurt his image.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.