In case you need a reminder, your underpants will not meet the court’s dress code. I’m Amy E. Feldman.
Federal buildings often have metal detectors through which everyone must pass to enter the building. Federal courthouses are no exception. Lawyers are no exception to the rule that everyone must pass through the metal detectors. And yet a Pittsburgh lawyer was charged with disorderly conduct last week when, after a heated discussion with security about why he couldn’t take off the suspenders that were apparently causing the metal detector to go off, he instead took off his pants and walked through the metal detector with just his shirt and underwear on.
He’s not even the first lawyer to take off his pants at a security checkpoint—another lawyer at a Tampa courthouse did the same thing last year and was promptly removed from the case he was trying. Look, it’s frustrating to have a machine beep at you; it’s frustrating when guards seem to be hassling you. But if we could take a moment to remember that if good manners aren’t enough to stop us from losing it, maybe the threat of legal penalties will be.
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