And you know this because?
Did you speak with Luttig?
Would you want to go through this process?
I am not aware of a single shred of evidence from any reliable source that any of the top tier people declined the opportunity to serve on SCOTUS for the rest of their lives.
Everything points to Rove coming up with this story as a way to make some conservative leaders to go easy on Bush and Miers, and it was a cunning plan-- "Don't be mad at Bush-- he's the victim here! A victim of the process! No one wanted the job, but Miers told him that she'd take on the awful task of being confirmed as a SCOTUS justice."