Seventeenth Annual Civil Rights and Liberties Moot Court Competition
The Emory Moot Court Society is excited to announce the Seventeenth Annual Civil Rights and Liberties Competition (CRAL) at Emory University School of Law. CRAL embodies our Society’s commitment to academic excellence and social justice. We hope this competition continues to inspire each participant to reflect upon the role civil rights and civil liberties serve in our society as well as how we can use our positions as advocates to further champion civil rights and liberties.
This year’s competition will be taking place on October 13-15, 2023. The competition will be in person.
The competition problem has now been released.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES
- September 10, 2023 - Last day for rule or problem clarifications at 11:59 p.m. EST.
- September 15, 2023 - Brief is due at 5:00 p.m. EST.
- September 22, 2023 - All briefs are published for review.
PUBLISHED BRIEFS
You may now access the competition briefs here.
RULE CLARIFICATIONS
A team letter is referenced in Rule A.6 and Rule B. Should our assigned team number given in the problem release email be substituted in all instances of the rules that reference a team letter?
Please substitute your team number for "team letter" in the rules.
Rule B.4 specifies "Monday, September 15, 2023" however, September 15 is a Friday.
The due date is Friday, September 15, 2023.
Rule B indicates briefs should be submitted on white paper. Does that mean that our cover page should not follow the Supreme Court's rule 33 on cover color?
Color coded cover pages consistent with Rule 33 are not necessary.
I understand that the briefs are due on September 15 but that competitors are prohibited from mooting with outside help until September 22, a full week after the briefs have been submitted. (See Competition Rules, Section C). I have never seen a competition forbid mooting with faculty advisors or other outside help after the brief has been filed so I am wondering if the stated September 22 date is an error. Can you please clarify?
The date has been changed to September 16, 2023.
PROBLEM CLARIFICATIONS
The Sycamore Student Herald article is dated April 12, 2023 and is attached to the complaint, but the complaint is dated April 10, 2023. What are the correct dates for these?
The article should be dated as April 2, 2023. The article came after the initial Complaint was filed, and the Complaint was then amended to include it.
Additionally, the article includes a call on the University to change the stringent eyewitness policy, but according to the timeline that would have already occurred a month ago as the timeline states the policy was changed one week after the initial Complaint was filed. If the article came out after the policy change, the article makes no mention of the changed policy. (p. 12).
The article should be dated April 2, 2023. Please amend your copy to state the policy change occurred three weeks after filing the Complaint. We apologize for the confusion.
As the case is in the federal appellate division, should the litigants be referred to as appellant and appellee rather than petitioner and respondent? Petitioner and respondent are used within the problem. (p. 2)
In the fictional Thirteenth Circuit, these terms may be used interchangeably.
As of April 2023 Doe is unsure she will re-enroll after her deferment of the Spring 2023 semester. However, One page 18 of the record, the opinion states that Doe is ineligible for re-enrolment. We do not understand the meaning of the above statement and seek clarification on whether Doe is eligible for re-enrollment in Fall 2023 at the time of her appeal.
Assume at the time of the appeal and opinion, the deadline to re-enroll has passed. Page 18 should read: the University's deferment policy clearly states that a student who has deferred more than one semester at the University, as Doe has, is ineligible for re-enrollment” ?
Is Sycamore State University considered a public university such that it is considered a government actor?
Sycamore State University is a public university receiving federal funds.
Can you indicate who reviews the policy annually? And was the policy adopted at a meeting?
The Policy is reviewed annually by the University Board (including the president). Assume the policy is formally adopted at the spring meeting.
The problem states that Cooke is a junior in fall of 2022. R. at 16. Following the normal 4 year undergrad length, this would mean that Cooke would be a senior in fall of 2023 and graduate in May 2024. However, later on page 16, the problem states that Cooke is due to graduate in May 2023. Can you please confirm whether Cooke is a junior or a senior in fall of 2022, and whether he is due to graduate May 2023 or May 2024?
Cooke graduates May 2024.
Is David Marcelle, the University President, a member of the Board, or simply a representative of the University? (page 12)
University President David Marchelle is an appointed representative of the University.
My team has a question regarding the spelling of the character John. Is the correct spelling of his last name “Cooke” or “Cook”? It is spelled both ways in the fact pattern.
The correct spelling is “Cooke.”
Please reach out to the CRAL team at emorymootcourt@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns.