Scenarios for Oral Arguments

Finally - they're here! The hypothetical scenarios for your final presentations.

Remember the rules: One of two teams will argue one side of the issue, and the other team will argue the other side of the issue. Please consult my previous post for team rosters. You should arrange to meet ASAP.

You will be expected to cite precedent and explore current cases as you craft your argument.

Each team will also hand a final paper in which their arguments are laid out.

Each team will have 15-20 minutes on our final day of class to state their case.

The remainder of the class will be the "judges," and will issue a formal ruling.

Here goes:

Hypothetical #1:

Colleen Urban, freshly graduated from Drexel's communication program after being named class valedictorian at Alan Alda High School, is working as a reporter at WNCB, a National Public Radio affiliate in Kenosha, Wisconsin. During her time at the station, she aggressively covered the administration of Richard Christopher, the city's popular three-term mayor.

In 2005, she wrote a series of articles in which she revealed that the mayor may have intervened on behalf of a company owned by his cousin, Dana Adair, to ensure that Adair's company receive the contact to repair all of the city's school buses. The allegations were later substantiated, but the residents outraged at Christopher's conduct could not muster enough votes in 2006 to have him recalled.

On January 2, 2007, after conferring with a few other reporters in Kenosha, Urban reached the conclusion that she had stopped receiving notification from the mayor's chief of staff, Megan Jefferies, about the mayor's regularly scheduled public press conferences.

When Urban called Jefferies to report what she at first thought was an oversight, Jefferies told Urban that her press credentials to cover the mayor had been revoked. Jefferies said Urban had committed "professional misconduct" in her coverage of Christopher. Jefferies said she had the right to deny access to the press conferences to anyone.

Colleen Urban filed suit on January 23, 2007 in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, seeking a temporary restraining order against Christopher which would force the mayor to grant her access to all public press conferences.

She also claimed that Christopher had violated her First Amendment rights by banning her from press conferences she had previously been allowed to attend.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Wayne Brady.

Team 1 - You'll represent Urban.
Team 2 - You represent the Mayor and his chief of staff.


Hypothetical #2

Three-time American archery champion and 2004 bronze medalist Ted "Bullseye" Smithson is killed when an arrow shot by a teammate hits him in the neck during a practice session, piercing his carotid artery. Smithson was acting giddy during the January 3, 2007 practice session, having just won his most recent U.S. title. He was feeling so happy that he volunteered to retrieve his teammates' arrows from their targets and return them. Unfortunately, teammate Stan Fredricks was not finished with his practice round.

The team routinely photographs and videotapes all of its practices, and did so on this day. An autopsy was performed on Smithson to ensure that it was the arrow that killed him.

Dana Adair, who shifted to a career in journalism after her career as a school bus mechanic did not pan out, works for the Union Leader, the flagship newspaper for a small chain of weekly papers in Union County, NJ. It turns out that her sister, Rachel, is a close friend of both the Smithson and Fredricks families. Via email, she receives copies of three of the photos - one showing Smithson before the arrow struck him, the second showing the arrow hitting him, and the third showing him lying on the ground - and a video file featuring a short excerpt of the tragic incident.

Rachel shares the photos and the clip with her sister. She wants to publish them, but decides to contact the families. Outraged, they contact the newspaper seeking to block publication of the images in any form. The Leader's editor, John Wargacki, politely declines. The families file suit in federal district court in Newark, claiming that publication of the photos and inclusion of the video on the paper's website would be a gross invasion of privacy.

Their case has been assigned to Judge Rachael "EVOO" Ray.

Team 3: You'll argue on behalf of the paper.
Team 4: You'll argue on behalf of the families.

PLEASE NOTE that oral arguments on these cases will be held on Thursday, March 16. We will discuss in class some, but not all, of the case law you'll need to form a solid argument. Make use of findlaw.com and the other sites we've discussed in class as you prepare your argument.

Good luck - email me or call if you have questions.