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.

The official 2009 Problem may be accessed by clicking on the links directly above . The official 2009 Rules will be available on October 14, 2008.
The competition consists of two phases: briefings and oral arguments. Briefs will be due from all competitors on January 16, 2009. Oral arguments will consist of two preliminary regional competition rounds, at the University of Michigan Law School (March 14-15) and Howard University School of Law (March 28-29). Each team will argue both on and off brief.

At each regional competition, teams of two will argue a minimum of three preliminary rounds on Saturday, and eight teams will advance to the quarterfinal level of elimination rounds on Sunday. From that, four teams will advance to a regional competition final round. The winning team from each regional competition will compete in the Constance Baker Motley National Moot Court Competition in Constitutional Law Final Round this upcoming summer at the ACS 2009 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 will open on Tuesday, October 14, 2008, and close on Friday, November 14, 2008.

Timeline

• October 10, 2008: Official Problem Released

• October 14, 2008: Registration Opens

• November 14, 2008: Registration Closes

• January 16, 2009: Briefs Due

• March 14-15, 2009: University of Michigan Law School Regional Competition Rounds

• March 28-29, 2009: Howard University School of Law Regional Competition Rounds

• Summer 2009: Final Round at the ACS 2009 National Convention

Join us for what promises to be an exciting competition! To learn more about the competition, please send your questions to mootcourtreg@acslaw.org.