2008 Constance Baker Motley National Moot Court Competition in Constitutional Law
In recognition of the upcoming general elections and the fact that in 38 states judicial candidates must stand for election, the legal problem involves timely and open questions on the role of state elections and the goal of ensuring a fair and independent judiciary. Specifically, competitors will brief and argue whether state rules precluding judicial candidates from personally soliciting campaign contributions and restricting their partisan political activities violates the First Amendment.
The competition will consist of two preliminary regional competition rounds, at the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law (March 15-16) and Georgetown University Law Center (March 29-30).
At each regional competition, teams of two will argue a minimum of three (3) preliminary rounds on Saturday, and eight (8) teams will advance to the quarterfinal level of elimination rounds on Sunday. From that four (4) teams will advance to a semi-final elimination round, and then two (2) teams will advance to a regional competition final round.
The winning team from each regional competition will compete in the ACS Constance Baker Motley National Moot Court Competition in Constitutional Law Final Round in June 2008 at the ACS National Convention in Washington, D.C. The winning team selected in the Final Round will receive a $3,000 cash prize, and the runner-up team will receive a $2,000 cash prize.
REGISTRATION opens on Friday, October 26, 2007, and will close on Friday, November 16, 2007. After registering, ACS will assign each team to write for either the petitioner or the respondent. All brief submissions must be postmarked by 11:59 PM Eastern Standard time on January 18, 2008. Each team will argue on and off brief during the competition.
Additionally ACS will assign teams to one of the two regional competitions based upon geographical considerations and to balance the number of competing teams per regional competition site. ACS will notify each team of their assigned regional competition no later than December 3, 2007.
All potential participants should be familiar with the PROBLEM, SCHEDULE and RULES.
For further information and comments, please email mootcourtreg (at) acslaw.org.