{"id":27290,"date":"2016-02-10T17:05:50","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T22:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=27290"},"modified":"2016-02-10T17:05:50","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T22:05:50","slug":"what-not-to-wear-to-court-pajama-pants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=27290","title":{"rendered":"What not to wear to court? Pajama pants"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’d say he’s got to be kidding, except Kevin Underhill (and this is Kevin Underhill, maestro of Lowering The Bar) never kids. That is, he kids but what he’s kidding about is real–factual stuff. Law stuff that, despite everyone’s incredulity, really does happen.<\/p>\n

I’m humbled. I’ve written little accessories <\/a>of advice <\/a>on how<\/a> and how not to dress <\/a>for court appearances but never, never considered issuing this warning…<\/p>\n

NOTE: Don\u2019t Wear Pajamas to Court<\/h2>\n

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Feb 09, 2016 12:20 pm | Kevin<\/h4>\n

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No, this is not a lesson I learned from the trial I\u2019ve been working on during the last few weeks (and which, by the way, we won, thank you very much). Counsel for the other side did lots of stuff he shouldn\u2019t have, but at least he wore a suit every day, and while his client didn\u2019t dress up\u00a0I don\u2019t think she ever wore jammies to court. But in Columbia County, Pennsylvania (among other places), this seems to be something citizens do.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The sign above has therefore been posted outside the courtroom of Judge Craig Long, who told WNEP News he\u2019s seen more and more people come into his courtroom dressed in pajama bottoms, and he does not think that is appropriate. (The term \u201cpajama bottoms\u201d is what they use in the report. To be clear, he would like them to wear something more formal\u00a0than pajamas; it is not\u00a0a pants-free courtroom.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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(Image: WNEP News)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe have a growing problem of people not dressing appropriately for court,\u201d Judge Long said. \u201cI just put [the sign]\u00a0out there as a reminder of the code of conduct that should be followed when appearing in court.\u201d He said he doesn\u2019t care if people wear pajamas around, even if they are in the courthouse to just pay fines or get paperwork. But not if they are actually going to enter a courtroom.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c[I]f you\u2019re going to church,\u201d he said, \u201cyou should dress appropriately. We think that if you\u2019re going to court, you should dress the same way.\u201d Unless you wear PJs to church, I assume, because then don\u2019t dress the same way.\u00a0Otherwise, do. \u201cIt\u2019s just there as a reminder,\u201d Judge Long continued. \u201cIt\u2019s not a law. It\u2019s not a rule or something we can enforce.\u201d Which is a little odd, because\u00a0I think it\u00a0is a rule he can enforce, on the theory that dressing too casually is disrespectful to the court and conceivably could get you held in contempt.<\/em><\/p>\n

It might be different<\/a> if you had political slogans written on your pajamas, or if you could argue you wear pajamas for religious reasons (see above).\u00a0But that doesn\u2019t seem to be the case here. It\u2019s just that some people apparently roam around in pajamas or at least pajama bottoms, and a subset of them don\u2019t change before entering a courtroom. Contempt citations for violating a dress code are surely very rare, partly because it seems unlikely anyone would defy a court\u2019s order to go change clothes. But unless the intent or effect was somehow discriminatory, this should be within a court\u2019s power to enforce.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is easier to find cases involving inappropriate juror attire, maybe because jurors are generally there against their will\/to provide a public service and so may be less concerned about showing disrespect. Unlike litigants and counsel, that is, jurors don\u2019t want anything from the court (except lunch). And jurors are sometimes discharged or sent home to change for this reason, although that too could be an issue. In 2014, for example, a Florida federal court sent two prospective jurors home for this reason (see\u00a0 Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0 North Carolina Criminal Law<\/a>\u00a0blogs), and the defendants later claimed that excluding them violated their right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. That court\u2019s dress code required coat-and-tie-level attire, though,\u00a0which is very unusual and could conceivably exclude a lot of people. The\u00a0NCLC\u00a0blog cited a case from that state upholding a judge\u2019s authority to exclude prospective jurors wearing shorts or tank tops, so that happens there.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the District of Columbia, which says that its courts \u201crespect individual styles and fashion trends,\u201d but does draw the line at \u201cgang paraphernalia and insignia; exposed undergarments; clothing with words, depictions, or messages that are intimidating or obscene; clothing with sexual or drug references; and sheer, see-through, or provocative clothing.\u201d So again, standards vary.<\/em><\/p>\n

WNEP News spoke with two citizens of Catawissa Township, one of whom supported the pajama-bottom ban and one who opposed it. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, no pajama pants,\u201d said Carla. \u201cI don\u2019t think it should matter,\u201d said Michael, who now cannot argue he is not on notice of the court\u2019s policy. \u201cIf you want to wear pajama pants, wear pajama pants.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t wear pajama pants.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d say he’s got to be kidding, except Kevin Underhill (and this is Kevin Underhill, maestro of Lowering The Bar) never kids. That is, he kids but what he’s kidding about is real–factual stuff. Law stuff that, despite everyone’s incredulity, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1175],"tags":[240,1036,436,310],"class_list":["post-27290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-how-clients-drive-lawyers-crazy","tag-how-to-dress-for-court","tag-law-and-the-courts","tag-role-of-judges"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t