The National High School Mock Trial Championship is an American nationwide competition of high school

mock trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting ...

teams. Hundreds, and even thousands of teams participate in district, regional, and state tournaments to select one champion team to represent each of the 50 states. The competition debuted in 1984 in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, with teams representing Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Georgia and Iowa have been the most successful states in the competition, each winning the title four separate times. Washington State and Tennessee have won the national championship three times, while California, New Jersey, South Carolina, Indiana, New Mexico, and Arizona have all won twice.

Winners

Past winners and runners-up of the competition include the following schools: The 2021 and 2022 NHSMTC were held virtually over Zoom because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Controversy

2005

The

Torah Academy of Bergen County Torah Academy of Bergen County (commonly referred to as TABC) is a four-year yeshiva high school located in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school utilizes a split-schedule day offering both Jewish studies and college p ...

from

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, th ...

had won its state's 2005 competition, but faced difficulties in its ultimately successful effort to gain accommodations to participate in the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina without being required to compete during the Jewish Sabbath. The

American Mock Trial Invitational The American Mock Trial Invitational (AMTI) is a national mock trial competition for secondary education in the United States, high schools in the United States, created and administered by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the North Carolina ...

was created in 2006 by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers as an alternative competition to address concerns of religious commitments by competing school teams.Aberback, Brian
" New mock trial contest arises from controversy"
''

The Record (Bergen County) ''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and P ...

'', February 24, 2006, accessed April 19, 2007.

2009

Maimonides School Maimonides School (Hebrew: ישיבת רמב"ם ''Yeshivat Rambam'') is a coeducational, Modern Orthodox Judaism, Modern Orthodox, Jewish day school located in Brookline, Massachusetts. The school was founded in 1937 by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik a ...

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

won the 2009 Massachusetts state championship and desired to participate in the national championship in Atlanta, Georgia. Due to religious dietary restrictions and

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

observance the school asked for accommodation in order to participate without violating their religious beliefs. The school asked for two trials to be changed from Saturday to Thursday or Friday in order to avoid violating Shabbat. In response the school obtained attorney

Nathan Lewin Nathan Lewin (born January 31, 1936) is an American attorney who has argued many cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Early life and education Lewin was born in Łódź, Poland. His grandfather, the chief rabbi of Rzeszow, wa ...

to represent the school. Lewin filed a complaint with the

US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

alleging

religious discrimination Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular beliefs which they hold about a religion. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treated u ...

and a violation of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

. Attorney Elizabeth Price resigned from the Georgia State Bar in protest over the National Board refusing to grant the requests for accommodation. The Anti-Defamation League sent a letter of protest to the National Board complaining against the lack of reasonable accommodation, asking the National Board not to punish children for their religious beliefs. The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

condemned the National Board for failing to provide for these accommodations. On May 7, 2009, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Doris Downs ruled that unless the competition would accommodate the Orthodox Jewish students, then the courthouse would not be allowed to be used for the competition.

References

{{Reflist

External links

2014 National High School Mock Trial ChampionshipNational High School Mock Trial Championship
Recurring events established in 1984 Legal education in the United States Intellectual competitions Annual events in the United States