The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit criticized U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in a recent decision after he apparently attributed a female federal prosecutor’s litigation mistake to her sex by saying: “It was a lot simpler when you guys wore dark suits white shirts and navy ties . . . we didn’t let girls do it in the old days.”

The decision, U.S. v. Swenson, involves fraud allegations against Simone Swenson an adoption agency owner who allegedly matched two prospective families with the same birth mother but avoided contact with them after receiving the families’ money.