However Ms Dati has in the past proven that she is made of stern stuff.
However none of this is true of Ms Dati's reform of the justice system.
Ms Dati plans to close 178 of the 473 magistrates' courts, and 23 county courts, and redistribute staff.
The trouble for critics is that questions about Ms Dati's competence collide with France's awkward new political correctness.
Rumours had started circulating that Ms Dati was pregnant earlier in the week.
There also seems to be genuine concern about Ms Dati's management style.
Ms Dati's ascent prompts as much admiration as it does resentment.
Ms Dati, who is not married, has declined to name the father, and was quoted by newspaper Le Monde as saying her private life was "complicated".
The wheels of justice may grind slowly in the coming weeks - but Ms Dati is determined to act fast, and she may get her way.
Members of parliament, even those from Mr Sarkozy's party, have been fiercely critical of Ms Dati's plans too, accusing her of striking courts off the map without consultation.
In an abrupt move, Rachida Dati, a former justice minister who fell out of favour with Mr Sarkozy, was deprived of the chauffeur-driven car she had hung on to despite leaving her job to become a member of the European Parliament.
In France this was taken as a warning to people like Rachida Dati, told to run for the European Parliament after failing as justice minister, that they would be expected to serve their time in the salt mines of Strasbourg and not run home to Paris.
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