I think you are misrepresenting Chief Justice Warren Burger.
Burger often changed his conference vote if outvoted so that he could assign the opinion to himself or to a more moderate Justice.
Burger's navigation of the politics of the Supreme Court of his time did not produce the kind of dissents that some conservatives would have liked but he did try to move the Supreme Court to the right.
Is there anything to the theory that Bush deliberately nominated Miers with intention of withdrawing, eliminating pressure to nominate a woman to replace O'Connor?
I think you are misrepresenting Chief Justice Warren Burger.
Burger often changed his conference vote if outvoted so that he could assign the opinion to himself or to a more moderate Justice.
Burger's navigation of the politics of the Supreme Court of his time did not produce the kind of dissents that some conservatives would have liked but he did try to move the Supreme Court to the right.
Is there anything to the theory that Bush deliberately nominated Miers with intention of withdrawing, eliminating pressure to nominate a woman to replace O'Connor?
Nope.