WASHINGTON — On Monday, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced that she had tested negative for COVID-19.
Hirono serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, alongside Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), who both announced Friday they tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Republican senators were among those who attended President Trump’s announcement of the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 26.
Hirono, on Twitter, stated, “Although I did not have close contact with Sens. Lee or Tillis, I sought a COVID test out of an abundance of caution after being present at last week’s Judiciary Committee hearings and I tested negative today. I will continue self-monitoring and working from home.”
Hirono issued the following statement Sept. 26 announcing her opposition to Barrett’s nomination:
“I will not support the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett for the following reasons:
“She will vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act after being rushed on the Supreme Court in time to hear the case on Nov. 10. Millions of Americans will lose their health care – catastrophic in the middle of a pandemic.
“She has a long history of being anti-choice and an explicit willingness to reverse Supreme Court precedent – endangering the protections of Roe v. Wade. A woman’s right to control her own body is at stake.
“The president expects her to support any challenge he mounts to the election results.
“Senate Republicans have gone back on their word about confirming a Supreme Court justice in an election year and disrespected the final, fervent wish of Justice [Ruth Bader[ Ginsburg to not be replaced until a new president is installed.
“Judge Barrett has an ideological agenda she won’t acknowledge and an expressed willingness to overturn Supreme Court precedent. Her ideological agenda poses a direct threat to the health care of millions of Americans, a woman’s right to control her body, the rights of LGBTQ Americans, and other individual and civil rights.
“I oppose her nomination and will fight to deny her a lifetime position on the United States Supreme Court, and in doing so, will tell the American people the danger she poses to hard-won rights.”
In 2017, Hirono opposed Barrett’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.