Justice Brett Kavanaugh tests positive for Covid-19

WASHINGTON, DC — Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid-19, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday, the first publicly known case of coronavirus among the high court’s justices.

Kavanaugh, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive on Thursday night, the court said in a statement, and his immediate family tested negative. He has no symptoms, the court said.

Kavanaugh underwent a routine Covid test Thursday ahead of fellow Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s investiture ceremony Friday, which he will no longer be attending out of precaution, the court said.

His positive diagnosis for coronavirus may mean he won’t be on the bench Monday, the start of the new term and what would be the first in-person session with all nine justices.

Kavanaugh had recently tested negative for Covid-19 on Monday, along with the other justices, ahead of their meeting behind closed doors to discuss which cases should be added to the court’s docket. He participated in the ACLI Capital Challenge three-mile race on Wednesday in Anacostia Park in Washington.

The justices plan to return to the courtroom this term for oral arguments, after the pandemic forced them to hold arguments by phone.

Sessions will not be open to the general public but a live audio feed that was a staple of the telephonic oral arguments will continue.

Before she joined the bench, Barrett contracted coronavirus last summer and had felt “a little under the weather but recovered,” CNN reported.