Justice Kavanaugh Tests Positive for Covid Ahead of New Term (1)

Justice Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, just days before the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hold in-person arguments for the first time in 19 months.

Kavanaugh, 56, who learned of the test results Thursday night, has no symptoms and has been fully vaccinated since January, the Supreme Court said in a press release. The other justices have all tested negative, as did Kavanaugh’s wife and daughters.

In an update Friday evening, the court said Kavanaugh would take part from home when the justices open their nine-month term with arguments in five cases next week. He and his wife, Ashley Kavanaugh, didn’t attend a formal investiture ceremony Friday morning for the newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett.

The court is planning to livestream the audio from the arguments, which will be closed to the public with limited press attendance.

Kavanaugh is the first sitting justice known to have tested positive for Covid-19, although the Washington Post reported Barrett tested positive before she joined the court. All nine have been fully vaccinated.

The Supreme Court said Kavanaugh and the other justices all tested negative on Monday before they met for a private conference to discuss pending appeals. All of the justices “are regularly tested,” the court said Friday.

Kavanaugh’s colleagues include several whose age or health status might make them especially vulnerable should they become infected with the coronavirus. They include Stephen Breyer, 83; Clarence Thomas, 73; Samuel Alito, 71; and Sonia Sotomayor, 67, who has had diabetes since she was a child.

(Updates to say in third paragraph that Kavanaugh will participate in arguments from home.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

John Harney

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