Styling is out for T riders. Actually, just for women straphangers. Guys are okay, unless they choose to wear a kilt.

According to the Supreme Judicial Court‘s interpretation of the state’s “Peeping Tom” law, women who wear skirts or dresses have no expectation of privacy in public places such as riding the MBTA when someone decides to take a picture or video up their skirt. And it was unanimous and written by a woman, Justice Margot Botsford. There’s even a name for it. It’s called “upskirting.” There’s also “downblousing” but that’s not at issue here.

The ruling came in an appeal brought by Michael Robertson of Andover, who was charged with criminal voyeurism, which is a misdemeanor. Robertson was nabbed after he secretly used his cellphone to videotape and take pictures up the skirts of women who sat across from him on the Green Line. There’s no need to use allegedly here because he admits he did it. But, his lawyers argued, there’s no law against it. Neither a Boston Municipal Court judge nor the state Appeals Court agreed, which is how it ended up in the SJC.

The law that Robertson was charged under states it is illegal to photograph anyone who is nude or partially nude without their consent or knowledge. Robertson’s lawyers claim women wearing dresses aren’t in either state, no matter what they do or don’t wear underneath, and the fact they are riding the T puts them in the public eye. It appears Botsford and her colleague bought the argument.

“A female passenger on a MBTA trolley who is wearing a skirt, dress, or the like covering these parts of her body is not a person who is ‘partially nude,’ no matter what is or is not underneath the skirt by way of underwear or other clothing,” Botsford wrote. Botsford also said because the T has umpteen million or so cameras for surveillance, “the two alleged victims here were not in a place and circumstance where they reasonably would or could have had an expectation of privacy.”

Outrage is coming fast and furious. Lawmakers, who let two bills languish in the last two sessions that would have specifically addressed upskirting, are vowing to ram through a law to clean up the mess in near-record fashion, even though they say the problem is the court’s interpretation, not the way the law is written.

The decision, as one would expect, went worldwide, landing in papers as far away as Australia and Japan. Locally, female riders on the T – because, after all, they’re the ones most affected – said the ruling is inane. Some are comparing the SJC’s logic to the old saw on sexual assault that women only have themselves to blame if they dress a certain way.

“No one has a right to take to take pictures of someone’s private parts. That’s creepy,” Christa Glem of Quincy told the Patriot Ledger as she waited outside the Quincy Adams T station. “Public transit doesn’t mean everything’s public.”

–JACK SULLIVAN  

BEACON HILL

The House approved a measure that includes $24.5 million for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams to double its size.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The Quincy Conservation Commission gave the go-ahead for Boston to repair the aging Long Island Bridge, long a source of tension between the two cities because while it is owned by Boston it can only be accessed through the Squantum section of Quincy.

Joan Vennochi wonders what Cardinal Sean O’Malley might have to say about the St. Patrick’s Day parade dustup. Not much, it turns out.

Newburyport toughens zoning in its downtown.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Bill de Blasio isn’t alone: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is playing long games against everybody.

Dark money groups mobilize to blunt IRS disclosure efforts.

ELECTIONS

The state has ruled the Ford Elementary School in Lynn does not meet parking or accessibility requirements, ending a decade-long effort to bring voting back to the school to make it easier on nearby seniors and those without transportation.

Charlie Baker goes drinking in Allston with the Dig.

Slate’s David Weigel argues that the Texas Tea Party isn’t a political movement anymore; it’s a movement to separate citizens from their money.

Karl Rove talks up Republican Senate challengers in eight states President Obama won in 2012, as embattled Democrats train their fire on the Koch brothers.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The Worcester Business Journal explores how communities are steering people to downtown areas to generate development.

Roxbury debates affordable housing.

Facebook is instituting new rules and restrictions aimed at limiting minors access to pages about guns and stemming the potential for illegal gun sales using the social media platform.

EDUCATION

The College Board has revamped the SATs, returning to the 1600-point scoring system and making the timed essay optional. The changes make the test more like the ACT, which students in the South and the Midwest generally take.

Bridgewater State University President Dana Mohler-Faria announced he will step down at the end of the school year.

Harvard’s African American students speak out about racial stereotyping on campus.

Schools may wisely teach not to judge a book by its cover, but the same principle may not hold for condoms and their wrappers.

HEALTH CARE

Boston Medical Center is embarking on a $270 million construction project that will actually shrink its footprint and is part of a consolidation plan in which the hospital will reduce its inpatient capacity by 60 beds.

TRANSPORTATION

The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Company, the losing bidder for the new contract to run the MBTA’s commuter rail system, is going to court to block the selection of rival Keolis Commuter Services, alleging that the French-based firm lied about its safety record and did meet requirements for minority-owned subcontractors.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Chickpea farmers are very happy about the growing popularity of hummus.

The owner of the Merrimac Paper mill in Lawrence failed to meet a court-ordered deadline earlier this week to submit plans for demolishing several buildings on the property and contain asbestos exposed in a blaze back in January.

The never-ending frigid winter and a shortage of raw materials is being blamed for the difficulty homeowners are having in finding wood pellets for their pellet-burning stoves.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

A former Swampscott reserve police officer who was convicted of shooting a Beverly man in the back of the head execution-style in 1988 was denied parole for the third time.

The Supreme Judicial Court rules that defendants who entered guilty pleas in drug cases handled by Annie Dookhan may challenge their convictions.