Law school holds pretigious moot court competition

It was a rough night for Robert Strumwasser. "Why do I feel like I've just been attacked?" asked the third-year Law student. Law School students, including Strumwasser, felt attacked because they were being grilled by three judges during a compeition for the Keedy Cup moot court award at the Law School last night. Third-year Law School students Bart Cassidy and Kurt Gwynne won both the award and the case, arguing that a benediction given at a public graduation was not unconstitutional. In this moot court case, judges were allowed to question both sides, and the award was given based on oral argumnents and prewritten briefs. Gwynne began the trial, arguing that the benediction given by a priest at Bishop Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island, was not unconstitutional because it passed what is known as the Lemon Test and was therefore non-sectarian. The Lemon Test, from the precendent setting case of Lemon v. Kurtzman, states that "to be constitutionally permissible a challenged practice must have a secular purpose, neither advance nor inhibit religion, and not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion." "Prayer was meant to solomnize the occasion and not to make it religious," Gwynne argued. Judge Phyllis Kravitch asked if a non-clergy person may have been a more appropriate choice to give the speech, because of the public school setting. After twenty minutes of intense questioning, Cassidy took over, arguing that the benediction did not coerce the students to follow any particular religion or any religion at all. He and Gwynne both argued that past cases regarding prayer in school were irrelevant, because the Bishop Middle School case was quite different. Other cases involved daily repetition of prayers and the highly coercive teacher-student relationship factor, they said. Strumwasser and Lawrence Rosenberg argued the other side of the case, calling the benediction unconstitutional, because it added religion to the ceremony through "a petition to a higher authority such as a diety." The judges asked Strumwasser if the opening phrase of the trial, "God save the United States and this honorable court," was unconstitutional as well. "It was for the purpose of invoking historical significance," Strumwasser replied. "Since no one said 'Amen' it wasn't a prayer." "So if a prayer is old and worn out enough, then it's okay?" countered Judge Andrew Christie. Rosenberg began his arguments saying that because the public school had associated itself with the National Conference of Christians and Jews when writing the benediction, an alliance between government and religion was made, which he termed "a naked establishment of religion." Speaking quickly and emotionally, Rosenberg was able to successfully dodge more questions from the judges than the other moot court lawyers. "Given the realities of today's graduation ceremonies a student cannot voluntarily get up and walk out," Rosenberg argued. The benediction was forced upon the students at the impressionable moment of the end of the first eight years of their education, Rosenberg concluded. After short rebuttals from the petitioners, the court took a fifteen minute recess to determine a verdict. "The competition was close and it was difficult to pick a winner," Kravitch said. She then declared Gwynne and Cassidy the winners. Jones lauded the participants, saying that despite tough questioning "not a one of you fell on your face."

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