Sandra Day O’Connor On Why The Black Robe

In an essay for Smithsonian, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor reflects on the tradition of judges wearing black robes, a tradition not based on any written rule. It hearkens back to England, but in adapting it U.S. judges decided to forgo the colorful robes of their former mother country, as well as the wigs. Justice O’Connor cites a narrative, “perhaps apocryphal,” that attributes the simplified U.S. version to the influence of Thomas Jefferson. Surprisingly, it is two unlikely robe-fellows who have in recent times tweaked their robes with ornament: the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice O’Connor herself.