Applesauce, broccoli left at Supreme Court in Scalia’s memory

Jars of applesauce and bouquets of broccoli were left on the steps of the Supreme Court on Friday as part of a makeshift memorial for the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

The unusual items became symbols of the ObamaCare debate following colorful comments from Scalia, who was the court’s leading conservative.

Yes, that’s applesauce, fortune cookies, paper bags and broccoli as Justice Scalia memorial #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/A3HJptWkAM

— Jessica Gresko (@jessicagresko) February 19, 2016

In his dissenting opinion last year in King v. Burwell, Scalia called the majority’s reasoning for upholding ObamaCare subsidies “pure applesauce.”

And in 2012, during oral arguments in the first case challenging the healthcare law, Scalia questioned whether the administration could force people to buy broccoli if it required people to have health insurance.  

“Could you define the market — everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food, therefore, everybody is in the market; therefore, you can make people buy broccoli,” he said.

Scalia died unexpectedly last Saturday while on a hunting trip in Texas. He was 79.

His casket arrived at the Supreme Court Friday morning and was placed in the court’s Great Hall on the catafalque, first used for President Abraham Lincoln.

A funeral Mass will be held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday. A private burial will follow.