AT Comparative Politics & Global Relations: January 2020

Friday, January 24, 2020

Round I, Hearing III

Team 6 advanced after Hearing I.

Team 2 advanced after Hearing II.

Team 4 advanced after Hearing III.

The wild card spot goes to Team 3.

This means that Teams 2, 3, 4, and 6 will draw to argue in Round II on Monday, 1/27 and the following Monday, 2/3. We will only do one argument on Monday, 1/27. Based on my random draw, team 4 will argue against team 6 on 1/27 and team 2 will argue against team 3 on 2/3, unless team 2 and 3 want to add 15 minutes to 1/27 class period. Let me know. You will flip for side on Monday.

Terrific (and FUN)(and ENGAGED)(and SOPHISTICATED) (and MIGHTY) (and BRAVE) job done by one and all, all week. The judges rendered the following legal decisions in the different hearings all week:

Chamber 1 (Wednesday)
Jurisdiction: Yes
Charge 1: Pursue - insufficient evidence to convince court not to proceed, duress unclear
Charge 2: Pursue - the pines should be protected as a monument

Chamber 2 (Thursday)
Jurisdiction: Yes - defense ceded that the court did have jurisdiction
Charge 1: Drop - duress clearly established
Charge 2: Pursue under Art 82biv - Defendant went above and beyond; no evidence he was under duress, historic monument

Chamber 3 (Friday)
Jurisdiction: Yes time lapse alone not valid
Charge 1: Drop clear duress; point of conscription unclear
Charge 2: Pursue under Art 82biv insufficient evidence duress applies. prosecution had sufficient evidence site constituted historic monument; does not need to be a building

Round I, Hearing II

Team 2 will advance to Round 2.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Round I, Hearing I

Round I, Team 6 emerges from the first moot court hearing. Congratulations!
Both sides argued persuasively, with incredibly sophisticated grasp of the Rome Statute
as well as the facts!

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Pre-Trial Chamber of ICC Protocol for our Moot Hearings

A student just randomly drew the moot hearing pairings from six shuffled cards in my hand for Round I:

Wednesday: Team five vs. team six

Thursday: Team two vs. team one

Friday: Team four vs. team three

Next week, we will run three moot hearings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Each hearing will be held within 45 minutes. The hearing with the highest score that did not win its first round will also proceed to the second round. This second round will be held on Monday, February 3, with one more trial and the arguments of a second hearing. The rebuttals of the second hearing will proceed on Wednesday, February 5. Round II victors will face off on Thursday, February 6. Each side should expect to have 22 minutes total, possibly 15 minutes for its opening/argument and 7 minutes for its rebuttal/closing. Total time limit is 22 minutes for each side. More information will be distributed in class on Thursday, January 16.