Ira Glass

And, OK, it is against the rules of the courtroom to wear a shirt like this, a shirt with a message on it.

I talked to a federal prosecutor from the same district who agreed with the judge that it could undermine the whole trial.

She said, if you're going to throw out the whole case and restart it because of a shirt, this was just the first day.

You're not losing much.

Someone else I talked to, a federal defense attorney in Texas, said she'd never wear a shirt like that to court.

But she also said, I don't agree with the judge that there was no other option besides mistrial.

There are lots of options.

You can sanction the lawyer.

You could fine them.

You can tell the jury to disregard what they've seen.

You can ask the jury if they even saw it.

Mistrials are extremely rare.

The judge himself said he'd never called one before in his whole career.

Then the judge, it's not over.

He says he needs a break to go review the law.

And he kind of sweeps out of there.

I go back into the hallway and I see one of the defense attorneys.

And I'm like, dude, what is going on?

Like, is there going to be a mistrial because of her shirt?

And he's like, it's not the shirt.