Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid-19, the 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. The justice’s immediate family tested negative and he has no symptoms.
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 means 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 “will participate in next week’s oral arguments remotely from his home,” the court said in a separate statement later Friday.
“All of the other Justices, including Justice Kennedy, tested negative in advance of today’s investiture” for Barrett, that statement said.
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.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.
