President Joe Biden threw a COVID super-spreader event on Friday to celebrate Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Members of Congress, Jackson’s family, and hundreds of high-profile Democrats attended the gala on the White House lawn while sitting closely in lawn chairs without social distancing.
The huge event went ahead even though Biden lambasted former President Donald Trump for hosting “super-spreaders” after a much smaller 2020 Rose Garden event for then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters afterward that Biden might test positive for COVID-19 in the coming days.
“The president may at some point test positive for COVID,” Psaki said, adding that “even with the president being double boosted, he could still test positive for COVID — just as many people in the White House have, just as many people in the press corps have.”
Psaki also defended Vice President Kamala Harris for hugging people without wearing a mask after her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, recently tested positive for the virus.
“The CDC says for people exposed to COVID [who are] up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, do not go to places where you are unable to wear a well-fitting mask,” Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked. “So why is she here at the White House today giving the new Supreme Court justice a big hug with no mask?”
To which the press secretary answered: “She was outside.”
During the event, Biden praised Jackson and criticized Republican lawmakers for grilling Jackson on matters such as her sentences in child pornography cases.
“I knew the person I nominated would be put through a painful and difficult confirmation process,” Biden said. “But I have to tell you, what Judge Jackson was put through was well beyond that — the verbal abuse, the anger, constant interruptions, the most vile, baseless assertions and accusations. In the face of it all, Judge Jackson showed the incredible character and integrity she possesses.”
On Thursday, the Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Jackson as the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, fulfilling Biden’s campaign promise.
“I am standing on the shoulders of my own role models — generations of Americans who never had anything close to this kind of opportunity, but who got up every day and went to work, believing in the promise of America, showing others through their determination, and yes, their perseverance that good, good things can be done in this great country,” Jackson said in her speech.
