The Case of Roberts's Missing Papers

Investigators Are Still Unable to Locate File On Affirmative Action

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 11, 2006; Page A25

The country has John G. Roberts Jr. as its newest chief justice. What it doesn't have is an answer to the mystery of the missing file of his work papers on affirmative action.

The file, compiled during Roberts's tenure as an associate counsel in the Reagan White House, vanished in July when lawyers from the Bush administration were reviewing the materials at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., as part of a vetting process before Roberts's formal nomination to the Supreme Court.