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Robes, which by some accounts evolved from Roman togas, have long been the traditional attire of judges and lawyers in the Western world. The official garb of U.S. Supreme Court justices is the black robe. Although the choice seems obvious today, at the time the Court was established, what the justices would wear was a matter of heated debate. While some argued for robes like those worn in English and colonial law courts, others eschewed this attire for its ostentation and royalist associations. Thomas Jefferson, it is said, was in favor of the justices wearing plain suits. In the end, the Jay Court adopted black robes with red fronts. Apparently, however, the red color continued to hold undesirable connotations. It was soon abandoned for a simpler, more sober all-black robe.
Today, some justices see the simple black robe as a symbol of the Court's impartiality. The idea that the justices all wear the same unadorned attire downplays subjective tastes and identities, giving the Court the appearance of being one neutral and unified body. Of course, beneath their robes, the justices are free to wear whatever they choose, and the ties, bow ties, shoes, and stockings that peek out beneath collars and hemlines remind us that the justices are, ultimately, individuals with distinct personalities and perspectives.
In the mid-1990s, after seeing a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta featuring a British lord chancellor who sings the lines: "The Law is the true embodiment/Of everything that's excellent. It has no kind of fault or flaw. And I, my Lords, embody the Law," Chief Justice William Rehnquist made an alteration to his robe. Inspired by the chancellor's costume, the chief justice had four gold stripes added to each sleeve of his robe. A light-hearted gesture, the stripes nonetheless called attention to Rehnquist's position as the first among equals. It does not seem that the sartorial embellishment will become a Court tradition. The new chief justice, John Roberts, has returned to wearing a black robe without stripes.
When Sandra Day O'Connor joined the Court in 1981, she was the first woman to don the robes of a federal Supreme Court justice, and she added a twist to the traditional costume. The justice accented her robe with a long white collar similar to the type worn with some formal academic attire. When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the Court in 1993, she adopted similar neckwear.
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