Seth Paxton and Gatlin Squires Win Annual Calvert Moot Court Competition

This week, 52 OU Law students participated in the annual Calvert Moot Court Competition, hosted by the OU Law Board of Advocates and sponsored by the Floyd and Irma Calvert Fund for Law and Liberty. Competitors included 2L and 3L students who researched a case that will be argued before the Supreme Court in December (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc., Romolo Colantone, Efrain Alvarez, and Jose Anthony Irizarry, v. The City of New York and the New York City Police Department-License Division) and presented oral arguments before tournament judges.

Congratulations to this year’s winners, 3L Seth Paxton and 2L Gatlin Squires, who argued for the petitioners! And job well done to 2Ls Tanner Herrmann and Allyson Shumaker, who argued for the respondents. Herrmann was awarded the title of Best Individual Speaker.

The case presented two questions:

1. Whether the city’s former rule prohibiting transport of a licensed handgun through the city to a home or shooting range outside the city by persons holding a premises license was consistent with (a) the Second Amendment, (b) the Commerce Clause, and (c) the constitutional right to travel; and
2. Whether petitioner’s challenge to the city’s former rule is moot, because the challenged transport restrictions are no longer in effect and are precluded by state law.

For this year’s Calvert tournament, the Board of Advocates recruited approximately 100 practicing attorneys and judges to fill 115 judging slots.

OU Law extends a special thanks to the final round judges:

Judge Stephen Friot, U.S. District Court of the Western District of Oklahoma
Mike Hunter, Attorney General of Oklahoma
Presiding Judge David Lewis, Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
Mithun Mansinghani, Solicitor General of Oklahoma
Judge Scott Rowland, Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
Judge David Russell, U.S. District Court of the Western District of Oklahoma
Judge Patrick Wyrick, U.S. District Court of the Western District of Oklahoma
Interim Dean Katheleen Guzman, OU College of Law
Professor Rick Tepker, OU College of Law