Bush, at Worship, Silent on Nominee

On the eve of the Supreme Court’s new term, President Bush on Sunday attended a traditional worship service for the legal community while offering no clues about whether he had settled on a candidate to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. said the president was reviewing his second nomination to the high court. The president is “still considering lots of options,” he told reporters at the White House after Bush returned from Camp David in Maryland.

O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, has said she would remain on the bench until a successor is confirmed by the Senate.

Bush is to attend a formal ceremony today at the Supreme Court at which John G. Roberts Jr., who was confirmed by the Senate 78 to 22 and sworn in at the White House on Thursday, will assume the role of chief justice. The court begins its new term today.

Bush attended the worship service, known as the Red Mass, with Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen G. Breyer.

The service has been held at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle since 1952 by the John Carroll Society, a group of Washington professionals who are Catholics.

The name of the service, which dates back centuries, comes from the red vestments worn by the celebrants. Red, the color of fire, is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, greeted Bush and told the standing-room-only crowd of worshippers that they were there to pray for Roberts and for guidance in the new term. He noted that the last time he spoke at the cathedral was during the funeral of Roberts’ predecessor, William H. Rehnquist.

“In the last few days, we have witnessed a period of greater civility in the selection of our chief justice,” McCarrick said, looking ahead to Bush’s next nomination to the high court.

“I pray that that will continue because it is so important not just for good government, but for the good care of our people who look here to all of you and your colleagues for the kind of leadership that is not destructive or too intensely partisan.”