The Memory Hole > National Archives' Investigation into Missing Papers of Chief Justice John Roberts

National Archives' Investigation into Missing Papers of Chief Justice John Roberts

"Report of Investigation: John G. Roberts' Missing File" by the Office of Inspector General, National Archives and Records Administration, 27 September 2005.

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(Acrobat/PDF format | 64 pages | 3.5 meg)

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Update [12 May 2006]: This report, first released by The Memory Hole, has generated stories in the National Law Journal, Washington Post, UPI, and Slate.

Introduction

>>> On 17 August 2005, the Washington Post reported:

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.

The Inspector General of the National Archives launched a criminal investigation, which ended in late September 2005. The investigation was inconclusive to say the least, as the Inspector General still has no idea "whether the missing file was taken intentionally, unintentionally, or lost."

However, the report does add some new information to the mystery. For example, in contradiction to the Washington Post's article, the administration lawyers did have unsupervised access to the documents at some points:

While the researchers were reviewing the files an archivist was in the room with them except when the researchers made conference calls to the White House. During those occasions the researchers were left alone in the office with the records for periods of up to 30 minutes. [page 3]

This report has not been previously released. It was supplied in paper form to Washington, DC-area researcher Michael Ravnitzky by the National Archives and Records Administration. All redaction is, of course, NARA's doing.

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posted 09 May 2006 | updated 11 & 12 May 2006
site and original text copyright 2002-6 Russ Kick