Shirra refused to wear his spacesuit during Apollo 7 re-entry. He and his crew got a blame.

No other later Apollo crew wore the spacesuit during re-entry.

After Challenger, shuttle crews had to wear a pressure suit on the way back.

The way they wore it was never checked from the ground, the astronauts are the only ones able to judge this.
Who knows during how many returns, since STS 26, the pressure suit would not have been effectively used, just because an astronaut didn't do this or that procedure?

This shows pressure suits are not popular among astronauts (difficulty in handling a camera or a check-list with gloved hands, for instance).

The solution is a capsule. Even inside it, astronauts would not need to wear pressure suits. The volume is small, the hull is robust.
I remember Gary complaining about a return to the capsule instead of a reusable winged spacecraft, for the future of manned spaceflight.
This latest STS 107 report is yet another blow to the winged spacecraft concept.