WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush on Wednesday attended the private funeral service of late Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died last Saturday of thyroid cancer.

    Accompanied by cabinet members, Bush paid his final tribute to the 80-year-old at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington DC, and praised him as "man of lifetime integrity".

    Rehnquist's body had lain in repose in the Supreme Court beforehis casket was moved to the cathedral.

    He will be buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, near graves of other late chief justices.

    The US Supreme Court, which comprises a chief justice and eightassociate justices, is enormously influential in American life, giving the final ruling on matters related to the US Constitution.There the chief justice sets the keynote and coordinates the court's operations.

    John Roberts, a former clerk of Rehnquist, was nominated Mondayby Bush to succeed the late chief justice.

    Rehnquist was named to the court by President Richard Nixon andserved for nearly 15 years before President Ronald Reagan elevatedhim in 1986 to be the 16th chief justice.

    He was widely known for his role in presiding over former President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999 as well as the Supreme Court's ruling over the disputed 2000 presidential election. Enditem