We are pleased to announce the fourth annual Constance Baker Motley National Moot Court Competition in Constitutional Law. In recognition of the ongoing debate about warrantless wiretapping conducted by the federal government, the 2009 Moot Court legal problem involves questions about the ability of U.S. citizens to invoke the jurisdiction of federal courts to challenge these surveillance activities.
Two issues will be briefed and argued:

• Whether, based on the government’s invocation of the state secrets privilege, a challenge to the NSA’s publicly-acknowledged warrantless wiretapping program should be dismissed as non-justiciable because “the very subject matter” of the litigation involves state secrets, the disclosure of which would harm national security;

and

• Whether, relying only on the publicly-available information about the warrantless wiretapping program, a plaintiff can establish Article III standing to pursue a claim that the government violated its First Amendment rights by operation of the program.