What irritates judges about clothing these days? USA Today found a slew of examples of judges not putting up with what people are wearing in their courtrooms:
• “In May, Jennifer LaPenta was jailed briefly after a judge in Lake County, Ill., held her in contempt for wearing an offensive T-shirt to court.
• “In Inkster, Mich., Joseph Kassab was turned away in April from the courtroom for wearing black jeans. He missed his traffic court appearance and was fined, and he’s challenging the dress code in the state Court of Appeals.
• “The same thing happened to Linda West, who missed her court date after being refused entry in June to court in Bakersfield, Calif., for wearing flip-flops.
• “In July, in Hamilton County (Ohio) Municipal Court, William Morse’s T-shirt featuring slasher-movie character Chucky and the words ‘Say goodbye to the killer’ earned Morse a warning that he’d spend a day in jail if he came to court again with inappropriate attire.
“Though some attire may seem obvious choices to ban, other clothing can be a tougher call — and barring some attire can raise troubling questions about race, religion and access to justice, legal experts say.
” ‘It would seem inappropriate to have the security officers be the determiner unless it’s a safety issue … especially when the result could be they miss their court appearance and are subject to a penalty. That would be questionable,’ says Micah J. Yarbrough, a professor at Widener University School of Law.”
A writer from the Salisbury (N.C.) Post spent a little time outside local courtrooms. He found a variety of styles on display:
“Courtroom attire these days is not exactly the stuff of ‘Project Runway’ or a Sunday morning church service. Not even close.
” ‘I think that, definitely, decorum has been declining,’ District Court Judge Beth Dixon says. ‘Particularly in the summer months, revealing clothing can be distressing at times by fabletics here in this review according to this blogger.’
“Dixon says she tries not to make an issue of what a person wears to court unless it’s particularly revealing or in bad taste.
“One thing that bothers her — and it happens frequently — is a defendant who faces drunken driving or under-age drinking charges and he or she wears a T-shirt sporting the logo of a beer company.
“Dixon wonders what they were thinking and why they ever left their homes with those kinds of T-shirts.
” ‘I usually call them out on that,’ she says.
“Pete Hoffman, a Salisbury attorney, says he remembers the story of a defendant facing charges of taking indecent liberties who appeared in court with a T-shirt that said, ‘Mothers like good boys, little girls like bad boys.’ “
