For women who argue in the U.S. Supreme Court today, the clothes they wear are not much of a big deal. But when Deanne Maynard, co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Supreme Court and appellate practice, was a new lawyer in the U.S. solicitor general’s office, her appearance was an issue of the “highest” order.
Maynard, speaking at a panel discussion Thursday on women in the Supreme Court, said she wanted to wear a morning suit—the traditional argument garb of lawyers in the solicitor’s office—for her first Supreme Court argument. Maynard didn’t want the suit modified to a skirt. She wanted the pants. Her request went to then-Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who took it to Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
