Why Antonin Scalia Is Wearing That Hat to Inauguration

Esther Zuckerman 46,587 Views Jan 21, 2013

Forget Michelle Obama's fashion. Mid-inauguration, everyone from Twitter to Washington is trying to figure out the deal with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's hat. See

So what is he wearing? Well, according to Twitter it could be one of the following: 

An Olympic beret: 

A Piero della Francesca reference: 

A medieval monk costume: 

The hat of a Vatican Palace guard: 

But let's not forget, Scalia rocked some weird head gear four years ago, something Senator Claire McCaskill reminded us of earlier this morning: 

And Russell Goldman of ABC News explained

If you're looking for truly weird, once-every-four-years head gear, look no further than the justices of the Supreme Court.

Some of the justices, such as Antonin Scalia did in 2009, don silk or wool skullcaps with peaked corners. The justices are generally seen together in public outside of the court and in their robes only once a year at the State of the Union address or the inauguration.

To us, though, it looks like Scalia may have gotten a new hat. Here's his look from four years ago:

Update: Here's some more information on Supreme Court Justice's skullcaps via Jeffrey Toobin. University of Richmond School of Law professor Kevin Walsh explains

The hat is a custom-made replica of the hat depicted in Holbein’s famous portrait of St. Thomas More. It was a gift from the St. Thomas More Society of Richmond, Virginia. We presented it to him in November 2010 as a memento of his participation in our 27th annual Red Mass and dinner.

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