“Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, regarding the decision to stop enforcing the U.S. Senate’s unwritten dress code for its 100 members starting this week. Women weren’t allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor until 1993, the same year that the first women’s restroom was built off the Senate floor, and in 2017 the rules were amended to allow women in the House to wear sleeveless dresses and open-toed shoes; the Senate also adopted the change in 2019. On Wednesday, Sept. 20, 46 GOP senators sent a letter to Schumer demanding he reverse the change for the sake of decorum. (NPR — Sept. 21, 2023)