Posted on 10/02/2005 11:16:54 AM PDT by NYer
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 Andy Card said the president was mulling his second nomination to the high court. The president is "still considering lots of options," he told reporters at the White House just after Bush returned from Camp David.
Legal experts who are in touch with administration officials about the selection process say the president is most likely to choose a woman to replace O'Connor, even though many of the often-mentioned candidates are white men.
Also, there continues to be talk in legal circles that Bush will pick Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who would be the first Hispanic on the court.
Bush attended the worship service, known as the Red Mass, with Chief Justice John 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."
On Monday, Bush was going to the Supreme Court for a formal ceremony at which Roberts, who was confirmed by the Senate 78-22 and sworn in at the White House on Thursday, assumes the role of chief justice.
I doubt he'll nominate another Catholic --- but I pray he will. If not Catholic, an Evangelic. I can already hear the screams from Shumer! LOL.
It is called the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There is always a "human sacrifice" -- Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Y'know, this is kind of odd, given the Gospel for today.
The workers in the vineyard stole the crop, wounded, stoned and killed the owner's servants, and then murdered his son. "And what should be done to these servants?" Jesus asked the Pharisees. "These shameful men should be put to death shamefully," they replied. And Jesus said he would take the Kingdom away from those who had abused it and give it to another.
One of the reasons Bush was elected is because he promised to appoint Supreme Court judges who would be guided by the U. S. Constitution and so would radically change the leftist trend the Court has followed in the last half of the last century.
Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas are Catholics. We need just one more for a majority.
Catholic Californian
Dear gpapa,
There is no evidence that Mr. Kennedy is a bona fide Catholic.
The apostate will be quite fortunate to avoid the fires of Hell.
sitetest
FMCDH(BITS)
chuckle
Is Clarence Thomas catholic?
I knew I'd get this. thanks. it was a lawyer joke, by the way.
Yes he is.
Yes he is.
He certainly is.
Give President Bush a little credit. There are 55 Republicans, plus Nelson of Nebraska. The other 44 are worthless. But, out of those 56 possible yes votes, you have Chaffee Snowe Collins, Nelson, Specter--I am down to 51 already. Bush needs to consider the Senate's reaction. Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough votes to do any old thing he wants to do.
That said, he could probably prevail with most of the conservative judges whose names have been tossed around...
Not so strange if you realize that the "son" was Christ and the "workers" were the Pharisees and the government officials of the time.
He was kind of poking them, and unless they had sound scriptural knowledge, they'd never know it.
Kinda funny.
When I heard "Red Mass" this morning I wondered if anyone/everyone understood the significance of the color "red". The color of martyrs and innocents babies aborted.
Indeed a RED Mass is called for to commemorate the deaths of the Holy Innocents alone!
Evidently it's a traiditional Mass that all Supreme Court Justices attend.
**And Jesus said he would take the Kingdom away from those who had abused it and give it to another.**
I truly believe that anyone who has supported abortion in any form whatsoever will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless they repent, repent, repent, repent, repent, -- You get the picture.
Now, I'm off to say the one Rosary for the unborn I promised to say today.
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