Reagan Library Discovers New Roberts Documents

The National Archives announced on Tuesday that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., had discovered a “large volume” of unreviewed and unreleased Roberts documents that were filed under a code instead of under Roberts’ name. Additional employees from the Archives have been sent to the Reagan library to review the documents to determine what or how much can be released, officials said.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, met for more than an hour with Roberts and gave him a copy of a highly controversial 2002 memorandum written by Bush administration lawyers that provided legal arguments for when torture might be appropriate.

Leahy said that even though Roberts had nothing to do with the document, known as the “Bybee memo,” he would like Roberts to discuss the arguments in it and to ask him “in what areas, if any, is the president considered to be above the law.”

Leahy also complained about the continued absence of documents relating to Roberts and affirmative action that went missing from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after they were reviewed by Bush administration staff members.

An investigation by library officials has failed to find the memo Roberts wrote on the subject, along with supporting material.