President Lashes Out at Thomas Opponents : Aftermath: Criticism of ‘women activist/feminist’ groups breaks near-silence. Gala set for justice-to-be.

President Bush lashed out Thursday at the civil rights and “women activist/feminist” groups that opposed the nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas as the White House prepared for an unprecedented South Lawn gala today to demonstrate public backing for the newly confirmed Supreme Court justice-to-be.

Bush’s criticism of Thomas opponents who “berated those who voted the other way” broke a presidential near-silence about the handling of the controversial confirmation and registered a new note of protest against lobbying by liberal interest groups.

Today’s swearing-in ceremony will mark a sharp departure from the low-key affairs of the past as the White House gathers military bands, a choir and hundreds of Thomas supporters in an outdoor event choreographed to underscore the depth of his support in the black community.

A White House spokeswoman said that the ceremony was moved to the expansive South Lawn from what have traditionally been more cramped, interior settings primarily to accommodate Thomas’ desire to invite large numbers of friends and family members to the historic event.

Thomas, the second black in U.S. history to take a seat on the high court, was born in poverty in rural Georgia and is understood to have felt it important that others share the moment with him.

Another Administration official, however, said that the event also will serve as an effective way to thank many of those who testified on Thomas’ behalf before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as a slap at critics shown by polls to represent only a minority view.

In an address broadcast via satellite, Bush told a conference of newspaper editors in Detroit that he wished the nation “had been spared” the “graphic detail” included in the sexual harassment accusations against Thomas.

Most of that detail was contained in charges made by law professor Anita Faye Hill, who was subjected by Bush’s Republican allies on the committee to an intensive inquisition that provoked outrage from a number of women’s organizations.

But Bush, in answer to a question from the audience, said that he is confident that, even in the stormy aftermath of the highly publicized hearings and on the verge of another presidential campaign, he would face no new difficulty in attracting women’s votes.

“Women activist/feminist groups might not have” stood behind his choice, Bush said, but “women overwhelmingly supported Judge Thomas, as did men, as did the entire country, with minority Americans, Afro-Americans, supporting him even more than the national average.”

Apologizing in advance for remarks that he said might be “too controversial,” Bush went on to say that he does not believe “civil rights leaders all speak for the American people on matters of this nature.

“We saw some people that wanted to bring this man down for reasons having nothing to do with sexual harassment,” Bush told the Associated Press Managing Editors’ Assn., without making the charge more specific.

In his comments, the most extensive he has made on the subject since Hill’s allegations transformed the Thomas nomination into a national spectacle, Bush said that he would wait until next week before issuing recommendations about how the process might be reformed.

He pledged to make those proposals “not in anger, not for partisan political gain,” and seemed also to take pains to offer a balanced post-mortem on the Thomas proceedings. At least, he said, they had helped to “sensitize” Americans to the issue of sexual harassment.

But Bush appeared to have difficulty in restraining his anger in references to the explicit nature of the testimony and to roles played by interest groups and other opponents of the Thomas nomination.

“I was thinking of my little grandchildren hearing some of the graphic sex allegations,” Bush said. And whatever the positive benefits, he added: “There was also something sensitizing about the process itself, where a good man, on the eve of confirmation, had a last-minute charge raised against him.”

Planning for the unusually elaborate White House ceremony in honor of Thomas was complicated by the death of Natalie Rehnquist, 62, the wife of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. She died of cancer Thursday at the National Institutes of Health.

A swearing-in ceremony for Thomas at the Supreme Court was postponed until Tuesday because of the death, delaying until that time the moment that Thomas can officially take his seat on the high court.

But the White House said that Associate Justice Byron R. White will conduct the honors at a ceremonial swearing-in before an audience of several hundred at today’s South Lawn ceremony, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The setting has previously been reserved for ceremonies for visiting heads of state. Incoming Supreme Court justices traditionally have been joined for the presidential swearing-in only by their families and a few close friends.

Meanwhile, as the Senate began to address the aftermath of the Thomas episode, Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) picked up 14 co-sponsors for legislation that would authorize the FBI to investigate the circumstances involving the leak of an FBI report from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“It is intended to clean out the stench that today hangs over the highest elected body in our country,” Seymour said. “And it will send a message to the American people that we take this matter very, very seriously, and that we will not tolerate it in the future.”

An aide said that Seymour would offer the amendment to legislation next Tuesday if Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the panel’s ranking Republican, fail to work out a satisfactory agreement on how to conduct the investigation.

Times staff writer William J. Eaton contributed to this story.

MEDIA SQUABBLE: The press is accused of being ‘out of the mainstream’ on Thomas nomination. A22

FEMINIST RESPONSE: The Thomas hearings left longtime feminists more resolved to change public policy. E1