Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett already had coronavirus earlier this year and recovered, The Washington Post first reported and CNN confirmed.
Several high-profile political figures who attended her nomination event on Sept. 26 have since tested positive for COVID-19, including President Donald Trump.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins were also at the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden announcing Barrett’s nomination to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and have since tested positive for the virus, as has White House adviser Hope Hicks.
Barrett tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday, according to the White House.
The Supreme Court nominee had tested positive for the virus this summer, unnamed officials told the Post, but later recovered. An unnamed friend told Time that Barrett had been sick with mild symptoms and had quarantined.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that people who have had the coronavirus and recover may be protected from the virus for up to three months, if not longer.
How or whether senators will hold Barrett’s nomination hearing, scheduled to start in 10 days, remains in question.
The question of who will replace late Justice Ginsburg, who died on Sept. 18, has dramatic implications. The court is now split between three liberal justices and five conservatives. If Trump is able to get another conservative justice confirmed, that would cement conservatives’ hold on the nation’s most powerful court.
Ginsburg’s last wish, dictated to her granddaughter just days before her death, was reportedly that she “not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
On Friday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) tweeted that the chamber is going “full steam ahead” with Barrett’s nomination process.