A Pennsylvania judge has posted a gentle reminder that pjs aren’t appropriate attire for the courtroom.
A Pennsylvania district court judge has warned citizens from fronting up to court in pyjama pants with a sign above the door, after he became so fed up with the number of people apparently thinking bed attire is appropriate for the court room.
‘PYJAMAS ARE NOT APPROPRIATE ATTIRE FOR DISTRICT COUT,’ the sign he posted at the court room door read.
Judge Craig Long told WNEP News that he’s been seeing more and more people come into his courtroom dressed in pyjama bottoms and he doesn’t think it’s very appropriate.
“We have a growing problem of people not dressing appropriately for court,” Long told WNEP News.
“I just put [the sign] out there as a reminder of the code of conduct that should be followed when appearing in court.”
He told the news network that wearing pjs to the courthouse is fine just to pay fines or get paperwork and he doesn’t care if people want to wear them around, but not if they are going to enter a courtroom.
“[I]f you’re going to church, you should dress appropriately. We think that if you’re going to court, you should dress the same way,” he said.
“It’s just there as a reminder, it’s not a law. It’s not a rule or something we can enforce.”
Lowering the Bar however, pointed out that the rule could be considered enforceable if a judge thought that dressing too casually is disrespectful and therefore conceivably hold someone in contempt.
WNEP News spoke with two citizens about the rule, one of whom supported the pyjama-bottom ban and one opposed to it.
“I’m sorry, no pyjama pants,” said one citizen.
“I don’t think it should matter,” said the other.
“If you want to wear pyjama pants, wear pyjama pants.”
