Justice Kavanaugh tests positive for coronavirus

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By John Wagner,

Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh has tested positive for the coronavirus despite being vaccinated, the Supreme Court announced Friday.

In a statement, the court said Kavanaugh had a routine coronavirus test on Thursday and was informed later that night that he had tested positive.

“He has no symptoms and has been fully vaccinated since January,” the statement said.

The court said that the other justices had tested negative as of last Monday and that Kavanaugh tested negative that day as well.

The court’s new term starts Monday. It was not immediately clear how Kavanaugh’s postive test might affect his participation.

The court said that, as a precaution, Kavanaugh would not attend an investiture ceremony Friday for Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The ceremony is a symbolic swearing in that was delayed after Barrett’s confirmation in October 2020 to the court because of the pandemic. The ceremony was already set to be limited to friends and family.

More than two dozen people who attended President Donald Trump’s announcement at the White House of Barrett as his nominee in September 2020 later tested positive.

Kavanaugh was seen in the Capitol late Thursday wearing a face mask and with his security detail. The Office of Attending Physician at the Capitol provides care to Supreme Court justices.

The court said that Kavanaugh’s wife and daughters are also fully vaccinated, and that they tested negative on Thursday.

Robert Barnes and Paul Kane contributed to this report.

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