Dear Affiliate Families,
As many of you know, Moot Court simulates an appellate court proceeding and has historically been reserved as a collegiate or law school event. In 2016, NCFCA became the first high school league to offer Moot as a part of its regular forensics programming. The goal was to provide our older competitors with an additional opportunity to strengthen their reasoning and persuasion skills while increasing their understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the judicial system.Â
This is clearly a worthy educational endeavor but also comes with a caveat that parents should prayerfully consider before having their student participate. In Moot Court, the storyline of the case is fictitious but the supporting court cases are not. They contain complex ideas that young students may have difficulty following and often include facts about crimes that can be disturbing. This is the inherent nature of Moot Court. In particular, this year’s case focuses on the First Amendment. And, as you might anticipate, a case with enough historical significance to reach a higher court will involve speech that is highly inflammatory and certainly not what you traditionally find at an NCFCA event.Â
For this reason, we have worked closely with our writing team to redact the strongest and most offensive language (i.e. taking the Lord’s name in vain and racial slurs) from the actual cases. We have created a PDF copy of each case in the closed universe with these redactions and will only allow these versions into the competition arena. If you plan to participate, you will want to also review the 2024-2025 Moot Court rules.
If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Moot leadership at gro.ACFCN@eettimmoCtruoCtooM. We truly are excited and praying for an amazing year for the Moot event, our students who will participate, and all the adults who will coach, staff, and judge this season!
In His Service,
Kim Cromer
