Cardozo School of Law Team Wins Moot Court Competition

Students at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York took top honors March 19 at the 2016 Seigenthaler Sutherland Cup National First Amendment Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C.

The two-day competition, co-sponsored by the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center and the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, featured 24 teams of students from law schools across the United States arguing a hypothetical First Amendment case in front of a panel of distinguished judges.

This year’s competition was the debut of a combination of two previous Moot Court contests. The Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center has sponsored a national First Amendment moot court competition for 26 years named for John Seigenthaler, the founder of the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center.

The Columbus School of Law has hosted the Sutherland Cup competition since its inception in 1950. The competition was named for Supreme Court Justice George B. Sutherland, an ardent defender of the U.S. Constitution who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1922 to 1938.

A team from Cardozo School of Law won the national competition in 2005, when it was conducted at the Newseum Institute’s John Seigenthaler Center in Nashville, Tenn., in partnership with Vanderbilt University School of Law.

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Here is a complete list of this year’s competition winners, runners-up and judges:

Overall Competition

Winner
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York City

Runner-up
South Texas College of Law

Semi-finalists
George Washington University School of Law, Washington, D.C.
Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia

Best Brief Competition

Winner
George Washington University School of Law

Runner-up
South Texas College of Law

Best Oralist Competition

Winner
Andrew Bellis, Duke University School of Law, Durham, N.C.

Runner-up
Ashwin Shandilya, University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville

Semi-final Round Judges

• Dean Daniel Attridge, also Knights of Columbus Professor of Law at the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
• The Hon. Sydney A. Fitzwater, United States District Court for The Northern District of Texas
• The Hon. Ellen Segal Huvelle,  United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Final Round Judges

• The Hon. John D. Bates, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
• The Hon. Steven M. Colloton, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• James C. Duff, Director, Administrative Office of the United States Courts
• The Hon. Marian F. Harrison, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Tennessee
• The Hon. Laurence H. Silberman; United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit