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George W. Bush unsuccessfully nominated Harriet Miers on October 3, 2005, to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. | AP Photo Harriet Miers nomination papers set for release

As Washington is rapt by a Supreme Court standoff, the National Archives is preparing to release a trove of records pertaining to the last round of high court drama: President George W. Bush's failed nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers in 2005.

More than 56,000 pages of records relating to Miers' nomination are scheduled to be made public in late May, according to a notice published by the Archives, which runs the Bush Library in Dallas.

Bush nominated Miers on October 3, 2005, to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. However, Miers encountered strong opposition from conservatives, who questioned her qualifications and also worried that her record did not provide adequate assurance that she would fulfill conservative ideals on the bench. Less than four weeks after she was nominated, Miers withdrew.

A few days later, Bush tapped 3rd Circuit Judge Samuel Alito, who was confirmed as a Supreme Court justice in January 2006 by a vote of 58-42.

There is reason to doubt how insightful the records set for release will be. The Archives says they consist of "production documents provided to supplement Miers’ responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire," and mainly contain court decisions, public speeches and similar materials. Roughly 2,500 pages of material are being withheld in their entirety and 1,180 in part.

Under federal law, records of former presidents become subject to Freedom of Information Act requests five years after a president leaves office. So, Bush's records became available for request in January 2014. The Miers records were requested in 2014 by Dallas Morning News reporter Tom Benning.

However, another provision in the Presidential Records Act allows a former president to request the withholding of confidential advice for up to 12 years after the end of the president's service. That means some or all of the sensitive records related to Miers' nomination are unlikely to go public until 2021 at the earliest.

