On March 17-18, competitors, coaches, judges, and lawyers took part in the 73rd Annual Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup National First Amendment Moot Court Competition, hosted by Catholic Law in Washington, D.C. and co-sponsored by the Law School’s Center for Religious Liberty. This year's field was expanded to 30 teams competing in the event, which represented 28 different schools. This year’s problem — written by third-year law students Joshua Campbell, John Sullivan, and Katherine Williams in conjunction with Seigenthaler-Sutherland Co-Coordinators Professor Susanna Fischer and A.G. Harmon, Associate Dean of Bench and Bar Programs, Clinical Professor of Law — centered upon two issues, touching as always upon a free speech question and a free exercise question:

1. Whether the extension of the New York Times v. Sullivan standard to limited-purpose public figures is constitutional.
2. Whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifteenth Circuit erred in concluding that the Physical Autonomy of Minors Act is neutral and generally applicable, and if so, should Emp. Div., Dep’t of Hum. Res. v. Smith be overruled.

On Friday, teams competed through two preliminary rounds. At the completion of the competition on Friday, the teams and judges gathered for a reception in the Louise H. Keelty and James K. Keelty, Jr. Atrium. During the reception, Samantha Soter (3L), Vice-Chancellor of the Seigenthaler-Sutherland National First Amendment Moot Court Competition, announced which teams would go on to compete on Saturday. Saturday consisted of a quarter-final round, a semi-final round, and concluded with the final round. The eight teams to advance to the second day of competition were:

QUARTER FINALS

• Georgetown University Law Center (Team 4)
• Liberty University School of Law (Team 9) 
• University of Miami School of Law (Team 15)
• Penn State Dickinson School of Law (Team 17)
• Northeastern University (Team 18)
• Michigan State University College of Law (Team 23)
• Notre Dame Law School (Team 25)
• University of Mississippi School of Law (Team 26)

SEMI FINALS

• Georgetown University Law Center (Team 4)
• University of Miami School of Law (Team 15)  
• Notre Dame Law School (Team 25)
• University of Mississippi School of Law (Team 26)

• Notre Dame Law School (Team 25)
• University of Mississippi School of Law (Team 26)

Soter represented Catholic Law throughout the weekend and was responsible for putting together the large-scale competition that took a year of planning. Soter shared, "I am grateful not only to our wonderful alumni and friends of the Law School who participated as judges this year, but also to the events staff and Moot Court Association members whose efforts made this weekend possible.” Moot Court’s Zoe Spirgel (3L) and Evan Slupe (2L) were also critically important in ensuring that the competition ran smoothly.

The Law School is grateful for the 89 distinguished individuals who volunteered their time to serve as brief and oral argument judges for the event. The final round judges included The Honorable Mark Martin, Former Chief Justice Supreme Court of North Carolina; The Honorable Joseph Leeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Gene Policinski, Esq., Senior Fellow of The Freedom Forum; Stephen C. Payne, Dean and Knights of Columbus Professor of Law, Catholic Law; and Mark Rienzi, president of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.