Four legal teams will publicly debate their “friend of the court” briefs regarding the case of Jean Lattimore vs. The College, to improve their arguments for their final drafts.
The case: Jean Lattimore, who was not offered admission by the Admissions Committee, has brought a discrimination lawsuit against The College and argues that: a) The College offered admission to racial minorities who had lower academic qualifications than the plaintiff, a white student; and b) the plaintiff’s constitutional rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment were violated because The College treated him differently than other applicants based on their race.
Team 1: Center for Individual Rights: advocates for color-blind admissions
Team 2: NAACP Legal Defense Fund: advocates for color-conscious admissions
Team 3: Richard Kahlenberg, The Century Foundation: advocate for class-based affirmative action
Team 4: Sheryll Cashin, Georgetown University: advocate for place-based affirmative action
Format:
- Opening arguments: Up to 4 minutes per legal team, but no more than one minute per person. All members of the team must participate.
- Rebuttals: Teams may directly challenge any other team’s arguments for 1 minute each, with a 1 minute response.
- Direct questioning of legal team by judges (time at their discretion)
- Closing arguments: Up to 2 minutes for representatives of each legal team to restate their strongest arguments.
- Judges will break for deliberations, then announce the most persuasive legal team.