About The Competition
and
the Honorable Luther M. Swygert

In memory of the late Judge Luther M. Swygert, Mrs. Gertrude Swygert, his wife, and Professor Michael I. Swygert, his son, established an endowment at the School of Law for the creation of the Judge Luther M. Swygert Memorial Moot Court Competition.
A 1927 graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, Luther M. Swygert became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana in 1934.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him District Judge for the Northern District of Indiana in 1943, and he was the first Democrat to be appointed to the federal bench from Indiana since the Civil War.  He served as Chief District Judge until 1961, when President John F. Kennedy nominated him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  Judge Swygert served as the Seventh Circuit’s Chief Judge from 1970 to 1975.  He became Senior Circuit Judge in July 1981, but continued to serve the Seventh Circuit as well as other courts of appeals until 1987.
Judge Swygert had a special relationship with Valparaiso University.  He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Valparaiso University during the dedication ceremony for the first Wesemann Hall School of Law in 1963.  He was the first Jurist-in-Residence at the School of Law, and in 1984 taught an innovative seminar at the law school entitled “Language and the Law.”  In addition, his son, Michael, graduated from the Law School in 1967 and was a member of the board which inaugurated the Valparaiso University Law Review.
Throughout his years as a federal jurist, Judge Swygert maintained a special interest in legal education.  In particular, he took an interest in moot court programs, acting as judge for student moot court competitions at Valparaiso, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Indiana University, New York University, Wisconsin, Illinois, DePaul, Northwestern, Chicago, and Yale law schools.  In light of this special interest of Judge Swygert, the Judge Luther M. Swygert Memorial Moot Court Competition was created in 1989.  The program involves an annual law student moot court competition to be held at Valparaiso University.  The competition is designed to include at least one judge from the Seventh Circuit as a final round judge, and it will offer a cash award to the team of advocates adjudged to exhibit the best skills in the annual competition.
The School of Law benefited enormously from the relationship with Judge Luther M. Swygert and is grateful for this generous opportunity to honor him.  In addition, the students and faculty of Valparaiso University School of Law wish to thank Mrs. Swygert for her continual support and interest in the students participating in the Luther M. Swygert competition.

26th Annual
Luther M. Swygert Memorial
Moot Court Competition
Final Argument
Wednesday, November 5  |  4 p.m.
Duesenberg Recital Hall, VUCA

656 S. Greenwich Street, Valparaiso, IN 46383
www.valpo.edu/law

Judges
The Honorable William J. Bauer
Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The Honorable Mark S. Massa Associate Justice, Indiana Supreme Court
The Honorable Theresa L. Springmann
District Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Indiana
Participants
Petitioner:
Robert McMahon
Emily Mussio
Respondents:
Natasha Corbett
James Williams
Issues
I. 	Whether the 14th Circuit Court of Appeals correctly used the 	intermediate scrutiny level of judicial review to analyze Canon 4 of the Hoosierland Code of Judicial Conduct that regulated a non-partisan judicial candidate’s solicitation of campaign funds, or is strict scrutiny under White I the proper level of judicial review.
II. 	Whether the 14th Circuit Court of Appeals correctly found that Canon 4 of the Hoosierland Code of Judicial Conduct did not violate judicial candidate Paula Pinkerton’s Free Speech rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

2013 Swygert Moot Court Competition Winner of Best Oralist
Kylee Miller
2013 Swygert Moot Court Competition Winner of Best Brief
Elizabeth Perez
2013 Swygert Moot Court Competition Winning Team
Kylle Miller	Matthew Tumminaro
Preliminary Rounds
Round 1:		Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014
Round 2:	Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014
Semi-Finals:	Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014
Swygert Moot Court Program Advisor
Professor Clare Nuechterlein
Faculty Judges for Semi-Final Round
Professor Ivan Bodensteiner, Professor Joellen Lind, and Professor Rosalie Levinson
2014-2015 Moot Court Society Executive Board
Elizabeth Perez, Chief Justice Mallory Zampa, Associate Justice, Luther M. Swygert Competition Ryan Locke, Associate Justice, Judging  Aaron Medley, Associate Justice, Interschool Competitions  Kylee Miller, Associate Justice, Business and Finance  Reece Freeman, Associate Justice, First-Year Oral Arguments/Tryouts
2014 3L Moot Court Members
Warren Freiberg			Davina Hughes
Jennifer Lee			Paul Nicolosi
Eric Skwiat			Matthew Tumminaro
2014 Competition Participants
Pia Betancourt Bauzo Jennie Bell  Alex Bialk  Natasha Corbett  Lauren Deitrich  Connor Hale
Michelle Kelly  Stephanie Kroeze  Gabrielle O’Connor  Justine Mackey Robert McMahon  Emily Mussio
Robert Raymond  Patricia Schulz  Lauren Tesla  James Williams