⁍ Amy Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings opened with the Senate hearing room including the judge’s children and at least one lawmaker who tested positive for the disease.

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⁍ Republican President Donald Trump formally nominated Barrett at a packed Sept. 26 White House ceremony.

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⁍ Days later, he and a spate of advisers tested positive for the respiratory disease that has killed more than 214,000 people in the United States.

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– The confirmation hearing for Amy Barrett, President Trump’s nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, kicked off Monday with the judge herself taking a sip of water and removing her surgical mask at least once, the AP reports. Sen. Mike Lee, one of two senators to test positive for the virus that has killed more than 214,000 people in the US, took his mask off as he entered the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room. “I feel great!” he told reporters, nine days after revealing he had tested positive. The other senator to test positive, Thom Tillis, wasn’t in the hearing room but was expected to appear in person later in the week. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the committee’s Republican chairman and a Trump ally, insisted that enough had been done to keep the public safe, Reuters reports. “We’ve set up a room in a fashion where we can safely do our business,” he said. “I’m not going to be told to be tested by political opponents. I’m going to be tested as an individual when the CDC requires it.” Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris said the hearing should have been postponed due to the recent outbreak of the virus. “This committee has ignored common sense requests to keep people safe—including not requiring testing for all members—despite a coronavirus outbreak among senators of this very committee,” she said. (Graham had his Senate re-election debate canceled because he refused to be tested for the virus.)