When President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, I wrote a silly jingle to commemorate the moment. Today, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the law; in a dissenting opinion, Antonin Scalia resorted to some silliness himself. He called the reasoning behind the majority’s decision “pure applesauce”; he described one interpretive point as “jiggery-pokery.” Applesauce manufacturers must be dancing a jig of their own; I’m suddenly (really, truly) craving the purée. And writers of light verse are happier still. Jiggery-pokery! The starting gun to the double dactyl! The most potent new poetry form of the past seventy years! Thanks, Justice Nino. We knew we could count on you.
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On Such a Day, Let’s Laugh in Dactyls
“The Court’s next bit of interpretive jiggery-pokery involves other parts of the Act that purportedly presuppose the availability of tax credits on both federal and state Exchanges.” – King v. Burwell dissenting opinion
“Jiggery-pokery
Scaredy-cat justices
Ramming their SCOTUScare
Right down our throats!”
Quoth the majority:
“HA-ha-ha-HA-ha-ha!
Sorry, Scalia; you
Don’t have the votes.”
