Two sophomores, a junior and a senior will compete for top honors tonight in the 12th annual Wabash College Moot Court competition.
The four finalists have been selected after a round of preliminary competition. Wabash alumni help tutor and prepare the men their arguments before a panel of judges. Tonight petitioners Kyle Cassidy ’08 and Aaron Cook ’06 will face respondents Jackson Price ’08 and last year’s winner Steven Rhodes ’07. Zach Mulholland ’06 was selected first alternate.
The finals begin at 7:30 p.m. in Salter Hall.
Each year a distinguished panel of judges is assembled to question the students and pass final judgment on their arguments. The Honorable James S. Kirsch, Indiana Court of Appeals Chief Judge, will preside. Hon. Terry A. Crone, a Court of Appeals judge, and Hon. Douglas B. Morton ’68, Fulton Circuit Court, will hear the case. A Wabash faculty member always rounds out the panel. Kay Widdows, Economics Dept. chairperson, will also judge the contestants.
The case this year involves the constitutionality of a statute, called the Solomon Amendment, which requires the United States Department of Defense to deny federal funding to higher education institutions that bar military representatives for recruiting purposes. A group of law schools challenged the statute, claiming that it violates their First Amendment rights by forcing them to assist the military in recruitment, or associate with the military, when the schools' anti-discrimination policy is at odds with the military's policy on sexual orientation.