Model Supreme Court Justices

Montana YMCA Model Supreme Court

Model Supreme Court Justices

Overview

Seeing the judicial system from both sides of the bench helps participants develop a deeper understanding of the law and the courts. Therefore, in addition to those individuals elected or appointed to serve as full time Model Supreme Court Justices, all Attorneys participating in the Montana YMCA Model Supreme Court Program will serve as Visiting Justices for at least one case hearing.

Procedures For Justices

Application

Individuals wishing to be appointed as Supreme Court Justices must complete an application form and return it to the State Office by the publicized deadline. The application will include essay questions that will constitute a major portion of the applicant's overall score. Criteria for selecting Justices will include quality of essay answers and past relevant experience that demonstrates open-mindedness, objectivity, an ability to think logically, to consider all sides of a question in a fair and impartial manner, confidence to think independently and to resist peer pressure. Past participation in the Model Supreme Court will be an advantage to applicants, but not a requirement. Phone or face-to-face interviews may be conducted with leading applicants.

The number of positions appointed each year will vary depending on total Court Program enrollment.

If there is an elected position of Chief Justice of the Montana Model Supreme Court, this election will be held during each Youth and Government session and the winner will serve in the following year. An elected Justice will have the same expectations as Appointed Justices, plus additional leadership duties.

Conditions for Disqualification

Visiting Justices will not be eligible to serve on the bench during a hearing in which members of their own delegation are participating, unless team numbers render this impossible.
Full Time Justices will also avoid sitting on the bench during arguments by members of their own delegation whenever possible, though this may not always be achievable.
Visiting Justices may not participate on the bench for a hearing of the same case that they are arguing as Attorneys, unless they are completely finished arguing cases.

Preparation by Appointed and Elected Justices

Full time appointed and elected Justices need to fullfill the requirements outlined below:

Justices will read both cases and all relevant research materials, then use these materials to write confidential Bench Memoranda for both cases according to the guidelines provided.
Justices are required to attend at least one training workshop prior to the Youth and Government session. This workshop will include case review, an overview of the responsibilities of a Justice, instruction on what to look for in written and oral arguments, and what to consider in deciding a case.
Justices will each be given a brief book in advance and will be asked to read all submitted briefs, taking notes on each as to potential questions to ask the Attorneys during oral argument, strengths and weaknesses of each argument, and other notes or guiding remarks useful to them. There will be virtually no time for Justices to prepare between cases during the session, so this advance study is critical.
Each Justice will contribute a portion of their bench memoranda to a "master" bench memo that will be used by Visiting Justices.

Visiting Justices

Times that Attorneys will serve as Visiting Justices will be posted with the case schedules. Participation is mandatory! Several Attorneys will serve as visiting Justices for any given case hearing. Attorneys may serve as Visiting Justices more than once, depending on the number of participants and scheduling of cases. Serving as a Visiting Justice will include the following:

Preparation:

As soon as assigned a hearing and case, Attorneys need to read the briefs of both the appellant and the respondent for that case. This must be done prior to case review!
Attorneys need to set aside at least an hour for a thorough reading of the briefs and taking notes on points of law or questions about the case.

Case Review:

Attorneys will report to the Justices' Chambers for case review at the time stated on the schedule, which will be approximately 45 minutes to an hour before the actual case hearing. Remember: Case Briefs must have been read and studied prior to this time!
Attorneys will then be given a confidential bench memo to read that will instruct them on the facts and law involved in the case. This document is to be read only in the chambers and is not allowed to be copied or removed from the chambers. Visiting Justices are not to discuss the contents of the Bench Memo with anyone outside of the chambers until the session is concluded.
After they have been given an opportunity to read and study the bench memo, they will then meet with at least one of the full time Justices who will orient them to Court procedures and answer any questions they may have on law or procedure.
Shortly before the hearing begins, Attorneys will be officially robed and asked to give an oath or affirmation that they will keep all deliberations and case information confidential and serve honorably as a Justice of the Model Supreme Court.

The Case Hearing

The names of appointed, elected and visiting Justices who will hear a given case will be posted ahead of time on the court schedule. The Presiding Justice for the case will be noted.
The Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court for the case at hand is the overall authority on all procedural matters before the court and in the courtroom. Instructions from this person are to be promptly followed by all present, including other Justices.
At the appointed time for the hearing to begin, all seven Justices scheduled for that round will enter the chambers. (Seating will be determined in advance by the Presiding Justice.)
During the case hearing, visiting justices are equals to the full time Justices, under the authority of the Chief or Presiding Justice.
It is important to listen carefully to the arguments of the Attorneys. Justices may wish to take notes to refer to later while deliberating.
All Justices may ask questions of the Attorneys. The proper way to interrupt an Attorney to ask a question is to say, "Excuse me, Counsel..." then ask the question.
Do not be afraid to question the attorneys! The fear of asking a "stupid" question may keep the Court from hearing an answer that could be very relevant to deciding the case.

Deliberation and Vote

The law is the basis for reaching a decision in each case. The Justices' personal biases and/or the age, gender, ethnicity and presentation style of the Attorneys are to be disregarded as much as is humanly possible in reaching a decision.

At the conclusion of the case, all Justices retire to their Chambers to deliberate on the case, make a decision and dictate opinions. Approximately 35-40 minutes will be available for deliberation and vote.
Deliberation is a friendly process where all Justices should be involved, with opinions openly aired so that all aspects of the argument are examined.
A vote will be taken after a maximum of 30 minutes deliberation, sooner if appropriate.
Visiting Justices have one vote, the same as the full time Justices.
Majority vote determines the winner of the case, and the court will issue a written opinion. Unless there is a unanimous vote, those on the minority side of the vote write a dissenting opinion. (In most Model Court cases, a dissenting opinion is likely.)
Only one affirming and one dissenting opinion will be written (i.e. due to time constraints, concurring opinions will simply be noted as part of the court's overall reasoning).
The Presiding Justice will appoint the individual who will draft the written opinions (affirming and dissenting) of the court, and a Visiting Justice may volunteer for these jobs if they wish to. The Clerk of the Court will assist Justices in writing their opinions.

Writing Opinions

Model Supreme Court opinions will be only one page long, but will explain the core reasons why the court ruled on a given case the way it did so that Attorneys and the public understand the basis on which the Court decided the case.

Opinions are written for each issue in the case by both the Majority and Dissenting sides.

It is theoretically possible for the Court to split its decision on the issues; for example, the Court might rule in favor of the Appellant for one issue and for the Respondent on the other.

The state office will have Sample Opinion forms with the case and issues pre-typed for use during the session.

Opinions will be posted at a time and place noted in the program schedule.

Bench Memoranda

A bench memorandum (sometimes called a bench memo or bench brief) is somewhat like a legal brief, and is used as a tool to help a Model Supreme Court Justice become familiar with the facts of the case, the issues and the applicable law. It also includes written questions that the Attorneys arguing the case should be able to answer.

A bench memo has a neutral statement of the facts and a summary of the issues to be decided. It then goes into a legal analysis of both sides of each issue, with appropriate citations, looking at the case without a bias toward one side or the other. When finely crafted, it gives a judge or justice an overview of the law and provides some well-thought out questions that can be asked during the case hearing.

In the real world, some courts have their law clerks prepare bench briefs as a preparation tool for the judges or justices. Bench memos are also written by students in law schools as an educational assignment.

In the Model Supreme Court, all elected and appointed Justices are required to write a 3-5 page bench memo for each of the two cases they will hear.

Justices are provided copies of both cases with the same research materials as are provided to Attorneys. They may utilize additional outside materials that will help them better understand the law and the issues of the case, but must keep in mind that the Attorneys are only allowed to use and cite materials from the case packet and cannot be asked to refer to any other information.

In the Model Supreme Court, the Justices will hear the same case several times. Therefore, in writing a bench memo for this program, it is very important to view the case objectively and try to avoid making a conclusion on the case prior to hearing arguments by the Attorneys.

In the real world, the Court generally hears a case only once, and a Justice may have a tentative conclusion in his or her mind prior to hearing the oral arguments. However, Justices also remain open to the possibility that an attorney will make a persuasive argument in a way which the Justice did not think of prior to the hearing. Attorneys might also answer a question which was still undecided by a Justice prior to hearing the argument. In other words, the Justice's tentative position on the issue is open to change.

Appointed and elected Justices will be provided Bench Memorandum Guidelines upon appointment.