According to the New Haven Register, newbie Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told her fellow Yale Law School alums that her Supreme Court nomination acceptance ceremony wardrobe was subject to the White House’s prior approval.

Justice Sotomayor’s remarks were delivered privately on Saturday at her 30th Yale Law School reunion. The New Haven Register interviewed an attendee at the event, Connecticut State Sen. Ed Meyer:

Meyer recalled that Sotomayor grew teary at moments when discussing the nomination process, but kept the crowd laughing. Sotomayor even explained that she’d gone shopping for clothes to wear to her acceptance ceremony, but government officials instead told her to bring five suits, one of which they would recommend for her to wear, Meyer said.

One wonders if the White House required any of its male cabinet-level appointees to model five suits in the West Wing. And why are such rigorous screening standards employed for fashion sense, yet not for vetting Administration officials on whether they consider Mao Zedong a “favorite philosopher” or describe themselves as a “communist?”