diff --git a/client/src/styles/theme.css b/client/src/styles/theme.css
index a02c4be..dd24ae3 100644
--- a/client/src/styles/theme.css
+++ b/client/src/styles/theme.css
@@ -190,6 +190,14 @@ a.card:focus-visible {
   background: rgba(11, 22, 48, 0.5);
   font-family: var(--sans);
   font-size: 0.86rem;
+  /* Stated, not inherited. A <button class="pill"> would otherwise take the UA
+     stylesheet's `line-height: normal` — form controls do not inherit it from
+     body — and come out ~7px shorter than an <a class="pill"> beside it. Every
+     other property here is already explicit for the same reason; this was the
+     one gap, and it only became visible once the public header put a button
+     pill (a dropdown trigger) on the same row as the link pills. Matches
+     body's 1.6, so no link pill changes. */
+  line-height: 1.6;
   text-decoration: none;
   cursor: pointer;
   transition: background 0.15s, border-color 0.15s, color 0.15s;