Moot Court Team Wins Again

In the Moot Court Board’s second extramural contest of the season, 3L’s Daniel Thetford, Stuart Spooner, and Raymond Yang captured first place in the Notre Dame Religious Freedom Tournament. The event, held Oct. 28-30 in South Bend, Ind., included 14 teams from across the country. The final round was presided over by Judges Ryan Nelson (9th Cir.), David Stras (8th Cir.), and Kathryn Kimball Mizelle (M.D. Fla.).

The contest problem, styled St. Agatha’s High School v. State of Hoynes, involved a Catholic high school that fired a science instructor for out-of-school comments questioning the authority of the Pope. After the state fined the school for religion-based employment discrimination, the school sued the state for violating its First Amendment right to theological self-determination. Added to the mix was a state grant program supporting STEM education, from which St. Agatha’s was excluded because its science class included lectures on creationism and the Shroud of Turin using state-funded projection equipment.

“I was very impressed by the students’ ability to master some very complicated issues in a short time and argue both sides persuasively,” said the team’s coach, Adjunct Professor Ernie Isenstadt. “They worked hard and their success is well deserved.”