Adam Liptak, New York Times: Laws used to have boring names, like the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Now they bear titles that seem focus-group-tested, like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That name, for President Obama's health care law, never really took, partly because its initials did not create an acronym and partly because a lot of people preferred to call the law Obamacare. ... At first blush, colorful names for bills and statutes can seem innocuous and even amusing. But scholars who have studied them make a persuasive case that they cheapen and distort the legal process. "It is political maneuvering," said Chris Sagers, a law professor at Cleveland State University. "This is a serious business, and it's being treated like a game. I wish they would stop this nonsense."
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