But as more documents are made public, there is a scandal developing involving missing documents that is giving new ammunition to the movement to block his appointment. The Washington Post and other news outlets are reporting that a file folder containing papers from Roberts’ 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.

Archivists told the paper the lawyers returned the file but it now cannot be located. No duplicates of the folder’s contents were made before the lawyers’ review. The Post reports that it is rare for the Archives to lose documents in its care, adding that the agency has requested an investigation by its inspector general. On Capitol Hill, Sen. Edward Kennedy called for a Justice Department investigation because one of the agency’s lawyers had seen the documents involved. Neither the White House nor the Justice Department would name the lawyers, but the Post s sources as saying that one works for White House counsel Harriet Miers and the other is an aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.