The proceedings involved references to chain

The gear required to keep the workers safe on the job, Schnapper argued, doesn't fit the standard definition of "clothes." Lawrence DiNardo, representing U.S. Steel, argued the opposite: that putting on and removing most protective gear is "changing clothes" in traditional senses of the practice-and that, therefore, it shouldn't be included as compensation-eligible work. The Obama administration, meanwhile, sought more nuance in the gear-as-clothing deliberations. Anthony Yang, assistant to the solicitor general, agreed with U.S. Steel that most work gear may be deemed "clothing"-but argued that there may be exceptions to that rule. three different definitions of "clothing." Which led Elena Kagan to wonder aloud "why the government hasn't issued a regulation on this." It's a good question, and I think I know the answer: The Labor Department didn't weigh in so that the Supreme Court could do so instead. The agency neglected to pass judgment on the garment-or-gear quandary so that Sandifer could be filed, and argued, and passed up the appellate-court chain, and added to the Supreme Court docket, at which point, on November 4, 2013, it could be argued again. The world has not reached a satisfying decision on the "what are clothes?" question, basically, so that yesterday's oral argument could come into existence.That must be the explanation, because yesterday's oral argument was ... amazing. As in, one-for-the-record-books, court-case-as-epic-literature amazing. The proceedings involved references to chain mail and knife scabbards (knife scabbards!) and toupees. They involved "walk like a duck, talk like a duck" lines of logic. They involved nine robe-wearing humans grappling with their own understandings-and perhaps their own biases-about what constitutes clothing.They involved, basically, a group of people who are very much not steelworkers trying to figure out what it means to adopt the equipment of a steelworker-grappling, in the process, with the bigger question: What is clothing for? this is My Favorites :A firefighter can suffer from heat exhaustion