J. Patrick Sutton Cases & Issues Blog

Neckties should not be required.

I hate wearing ties. They're outmoded and impractical. To say nothing of expensive for the good ones. A scrap of silk hanging from my neck and almost choking me? Always in my way when I eat or drink? Is that what I need when I'm trying to be dynamic and assertive in the courtroom? The courts don't require women to wear ties, only men. There is inherent bias in this. And women wear all kinds of different outfits — dresses, slacks, skirts, but only rarely jackets, and all but never ties. I've seen judges in the past few years wear only T-shirts under their robes, and no one is chastising them. Neckties are a tradition that needs to be jettisoned.

All that said, you will pry my favorite unstructured, hand-stitched suits and sportcoats out of my cold, dead . . . er, hands? Whatever. I am not sure whether the traditional jacket and pants should be mandatory — I think a nice dress shirt and pants is enough, but I could go either way on this. I think my real issue is parity: that neither sex should be required to wear something the other sex is not, nor forbidden to wear something the other side does. Imagine.

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J. Patrick Sutton Cases & Issues Blog