2009 Langfan Constitutional Debate Final

The final round of the 2009 Langfan Constitutional Debate took place last Thursday, February 11th in the Law School Courtroom.  Professor Rosalind Dixon delivered the keynote speech, elucidating on the different ways foreign law can be used in US Federal Courts.  The round was well attended with over 50 people showing up to watch as Adwait Parker and Petey Gil-Montllor squared off against Deepa Ramakrishnan and Chris Catterton.  Paker and Gil-Montllor won over the panel of judges affirming the resolution "it is legitimate for US Federal Courts to consider foreign law and standards when interpreting the Constitution," becoming the 2009 Langfan Champions.

Prelims Results

The preliminary rounds have ended, and the 2009 Langfan finalsts will be Adwait Parker & Petey Gil-Montllor and Deepa Ramakrishnan & Chris Catterton.  Congratulations to both finalist teams and to all the teams that competed.  The judges were uniformly impressed with the quality of the speakers drawn to this year's competition.  We are working with the finalists as well as a keynote speaker to schedule the final round.  It will be held in the Law School Courtroom in early February.  An announcement by e-mail will be sent to all competitors, and the event will be widely advertised on campus.  As promised, here is a photo from lunch before breaks were announced.

Saturday morning debate

It's a cold Saturday morning in Chicago today.  The board and various members of the team have assembled in Harper Memorial Library to host the 2009 Langfan Constitutional Debate prelims.  There have been some fantastic rounds so far, and we're looking forward to seeing which teams will be this year's finalists.  Last year Harry Murphy '11 and Noah Blaser '11 were the Langfan champions, winning in the final round on a 3-0 decision.  The runners-up were Patrick Diehl '11 and Greg Nance '11.  Included in this post are a couple of photos from the final round last year.  More photos from today's preliminary rounds to come later today.

Ben and Andy on Fox

This video has been awhile in the coming. It dates back from the vice-presidential debates in October. Ben and Andy gave a recap of the debate on the morning news the day after the CDS debate-watching party at my house. The debate turned out to be one of the most watched television events ever with 69.9 million viewers in the United States.