A dress code that lasted a week
In September 2023, the Senate stopped enforcing its formal dress code, a change widely linked to Sen. John Fetterman’s hoodies and shorts. After a bipartisan backlash, the Senate restored the code about a week later.
Sen. Cory Booker Faces Criticism for Wearing Pink Booty Shorts at Capitol After Dress Code Change
Every Smattering story starts from a real event and goes exactly one step further. Here is the step, and the line we did not cross.
“Policy and leg day can coexist in a functioning democracy.”
The real newsSep 2023, Washington, D.C.
For a few days the most serious chamber in American politics argued about shorts. The coverage was already half a joke.
The escalationOne step further
We finished it. In our story Sen. Cory Booker tests the new rules in pink athletic shorts, the parliamentarian is asked for a ruling and the Senate discovers that nobody modeled the downside scenario.
Where we drew the line
The rule change and its reversal are real. Everything Booker says and wears in the story is invented.
Read itThe story itself
The full piece is labeled as satire at the top and the bottom of the page. If you share it, share the link, so the label travels with the joke.
