Ames Moot Court Competition 2024

On November 19, 2024, the Ames Moot Court Competition Final Round took place in Ames Courtroom at Harvard Law School. This year, the esteemed panel of judges featured Ketanji Brown Jackson ’96, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court; Patti B. Saris ’76, a former chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and lecturer on law at Harvard; and Joan L. Larsen, a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

This year's fictional case was Daniel Welles, Attorney General of the United States v. John Doe:

John Doe, an undocumented immigrant residing in Ames City with strong community ties, including family and civic involvement, seeks legal protection to possess a firearm for self-defense due to neighborhood safety concerns. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A) prohibits firearm possession by individuals unlawfully present in the United States. Doe challenged this restriction, arguing that it violates his Second Amendment rights.

The District Court upheld the federal restriction, referencing prior circuit precedent that excluded undocumented immigrants from Second Amendment protections. The Court of Appeals reversed, reevaluating the issue under the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen. The Court of Appeals concluded that Doe has sufficient ties to be part of “the people” under the Second Amendment and found insufficient historical evidence to justify disarming him solely based on his immigration status.

The Supreme Court granted certiorari to address two key questions:
1. Whether a noncitizen unlawfully present in the United States but with substantial ties to the country is part of “the people” with Second Amendment rights.
2. Whether the government can disarm noncitizens unlawfully present in the United States but with substantial ties to the country, consistent with the history of the Second Amendment.

The competing teams were:
The Honorable Constance Baker Motley Memorial Team (respondent)
• Elle Buellesbach
• Vaishalee Chaudhary (oralist)
• Andrew Cogut
• Alex Fredman
• Sophia Kwende (oralist)
• Alexandra (“Mac”) Taylor
Meet the Team:    • Meet Team Motley | Ames Moot Court Competi...  

The Honorable Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Memorial Team (petitioner)
• Arvind Ashok (oralist)
• Edward (“Ned”) Bless
• Andrew Hayes
• Emily Malpass (oralist)
• Richard Nehrboss
• Daniel Wasserman
Meet the Team:    • Meet Team O'Connor | Ames Moot Court Compe...  

For full coverage of the 2024 competition, visit Harvard Law Today: https://hls.harvard.edu/today/ames-mo...

Watch past Ames competitions here:    • Ames Moot Court Competition  

View the archives of the Ames Moot Court Competition, including photos and video of Final Round competitions from 1974-present, on the Harvard Law School website: https://hls.harvard.edu/ames-moot-court/

Read more about the Ames Moot Court Competition Final Round on the Board of Student Advisers website: https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/bsa/fina...

(Video of the 2024 Ames Moot Court Competition was originally posted on November 21, 2024. This version has been updated to include final panel remarks and announcement of winners.)