Annual Supreme Court Preview Held at Law School
The Institute of Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary Law School held the 26th Annual Supreme Court Preview on Sept. 27th and 28th. The Preview brought together Supreme Court advocates, journalists, professors of law, lawyers, and students for two days of discourse on the upcoming Supreme Court session. This year, the Preview drew strong student participation with 25 student workers and volunteers from William & Mary Law School.
The main event of the weekend was Friday night’s moot court session. The court was made up of professors from Harvard and Yale Law Schools, as well as William & Mary Law School’s Dean Davison Douglas and professors Allison Orr Larsen and Tim Zick. The court also included a Morrison Foerster attorney and members of the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News. Joan Biskupic of Reuters served as chief justice.
The court heard arguments from Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of University of California at Irvine Law School and Marci Hamilton, dean of Cardozo School of Law, regarding the upcoming case Town of Greece v. Galloway, which concerns the constitutionality of legislative prayer. Dean Chemerinsky argued for the appellee and Prof. Hamilton argued for the appellant. In a 7-2 decision, the court held that prayer is unconstitutional at a legislative assembly. The Supreme Court will hear Galloway on Nov. 6.
On Saturday, Sept. 28th, the preview featured eight panel sessions covering groups of cases to be heard by the Court this session. The sessions covered Civil Rights, Business, First Amendment & Separation of Powers, DOMA & Same-Sex Marriage, Chief Justice Roberts v. Justice Kagan: The Battle for the Court’s Future, The War on Terrorism Today, Criminal, and Abortion. Each panel featured three to five experts discussing upcoming cases within the panel’s subject matter.
The Supreme Court Preview is an excellent opportunity for students at the Law School to hear from and interact with the foremost Supreme Court experts and advocates. The Institute of Bill of Rights Law will announce the dates for next year’s Preview in early 2014.
About William & Mary Law School
Thomas Jefferson founded William & Mary Law School in 1779 to train leaders for the new nation. Now in its third century, America's oldest law school continues its historic mission of educating citizen lawyers who are prepared both to lead and to serve.