Why Do Supreme Court Judges Wear Black Robes?

Before we address the question, “Why do judges wear black robes?” Consider why Supreme Court judges wear robes rather than suits and ties.

“We don’t understand why the Supreme Court judges opted to wear black robes, and that is most likely owing to the centuries-old custom of seeing judges wear robes that have been passed on from generation to generation in so many European countries, most prominently England.”

According to Clare Cushman, Director of Publications of the Supreme Court Historical Society in America, “There really is no indication that the Supreme Court judges wore black robes during their first hearing in 1790, but they did choose to pursue the long-held custom and first donned black robes at their second sitting in February 1792.”

In general, robes are seen to give judicial proceedings a seriousness befitting the critical nature of the work.

Surprisingly, Supreme Court judges did not always wear black robes.

It may surprise you to learn that the robes worn by Supreme Court judges are not always black. In particular, some were multicoloured.

From around 1792 to around 1800, the court wore a black robe featuring red and white decorations on the shoulders and down the front of the robe

So, what is the significance of the black robes worn by judges?

To cut a long article short, there is no definitive solution. “There is no exact reason—at some level, the court moved from the more colourful robes to all black, presumably between 1800 and 1801,” Cushman explains.

Eventually, this habit extended to other courts, and by the 1880s, most federal judges wore all-black robes.” Cushman further adds that while the court’s customs are mostly derived from English beliefs, other European nations, such as France, wore robes as well.

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