O’Connor Robe Judged as Mini

WASHINGTON – The consensus was that Sandra Day O’Connor’s judicial robe, black and simple, was simply too short . The robe, one from her days as an Arizona Appeals Court judge, demurely covered the knee. But observers – read that the cynical members of the Washington press corps – judged the robe as too short for a member of the nation’s highest court. For one thing, the robe was just a hair shorter than her dress, allowing a fraction of her pink hem to peek from beneath the austere garment. Secondly, the robe looked strangely mini as Justice O’Connor posed for pictures with her family, President and Mrs. Reagan and Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and his wife, Elvera. In contrast, Burger looked immensely judicial. His sweeping black robe comes to midcalf.