Your customized headlines for Sun, Apr 1, 2012

If the law is an ass, as Mr. Bumble declares in "Oliver Twist," then constitutional law must surely be the entire wagon train.

Like most Washington policy wonks, I spent too much of last week reading transcripts of the Supreme Court arguments over the constitutionality of the new health reform law. This was to be a "teaching moment" for the country, an opportunity to see the best and the brightest engage in a reasoned debate on the limits of federal power. Instead, what we got too often was political posturing, Jesuitical hair-splitting and absurd hypotheticals.

Of all the arguments being waged over the Affordable Care Act — or, as the Obama campaign now likes to refer to it, "Obamacare" — the one dominating the Supreme Court last week is perhaps the most conceptually trivial.

New Yorker Abake Assongba has pledged to help President Obama win reelection, and as one of his 400 volunteer fundraisers, she has delivered $50,000 to the cause.

But she is also trailed by some controversy, accused in court of defrauding a businessman out of $657,000, impersonating a bank official and dodging creditors.

In 2004, when Major League Baseball was demanding a 100 percent city-financed stadium in exchange for its forlorn Montreal Expos franchise and the D.C. government looked like a pitiful supplicant, desperate to win the prize but armed with near-zero leverage, Naomi Monk rose in defense of her neighborhood.

If the law is an ass, as Mr. Bumble declares in "Oliver Twist," then constitutional law must surely be the entire wagon train.

Like most Washington policy wonks, I spent too much of last week reading transcripts of the Supreme Court arguments over the constitutionality of the new health reform law. This was to be a "teaching moment" for the country, an opportunity to see the best and the brightest engage in a reasoned debate on the limits of federal power. Instead, what we got too often was political posturing, Jesuitical hair-splitting and absurd hypotheticals.

In 2004, when Major League Baseball was demanding a 100 percent city-financed stadium in exchange for its forlorn Montreal Expos franchise and the D.C. government looked like a pitiful supplicant, desperate to win the prize but armed with near-zero leverage, Naomi Monk rose in defense of her neighborhood.

When the Affordable Care Act became law two years ago, many legal observers wrote off the ensuing court challenges as quite frivolous, posing little substantive threat to the Obama administration's signature legislative accomplishment.

Of all the arguments being waged over the Affordable Care Act — or, as the Obama campaign now likes to refer to it, "Obamacare" — the one dominating the Supreme Court this week is perhaps the most conceptually trivial.

As the George Washington University Student Association election got underway a few weeks ago, someone masquerading as the school's top administrator let loose on Twitter.

"You know what is cute, funny and pathetic? SA elections. #LOLSAElections," wrote @fakeStevenKnapp. "I endorse neither candidate. Because both are tooly and I look forward to ignoring both of them."