Sonia Sotomayor to visit UC Berkeley Feb. 2

BERKELEY -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is due to visit UC Berkeley next month to preside over a student law competition.

Sotomayor will be the chief judge on a panel hearing the final round of arguments Feb. 2 by law students in the McBaine Honors Competition, the annual moot court contest at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.

She will be joined by 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge William Fletcher, who teaches a class on federal courts at the school, and California Supreme Court Justice Carol Corrigan.

"These are three extraordinary jurists," said Christopher Edley, the law school's dean. He said the trio's participation will make the session an "invaluable learning opportunity" for students.

The moot court competition is intended to simulate the arguing of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Each competitor must prepare a written brief and 30 minutes of oral argument on a cutting-edge topic selected by the competition organizers.

This year's case is a free-speech lawsuit filed against a school district by an evangelical Christian mother after school officials, citing the constitutional separation of church and state, refused to let her read Bible verses to her kindergarten son during a classroom show-and-tell session.

The two finalists who will argue Feb. 2 will be chosen after preliminary rounds, quarterfinals and semifinals held this month before panels of lawyers, local judges and faculty.

Sotomayor, a former federal appeals court judge in New York, was President Barack Obama's first appointment to the Supreme Court, named by him to the post in 2009. She is the court's first Hispanic justice.

"I believe that over the next 20 years Justice Sotomayor will emerge as a truly central figure in American jurisprudence; she's that good," Edley said. "Our students will carry this memory with them for the rest of their lives."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17077545?nclick_check=1


Edit: she will be at Kansas State before then, on 27 January:
http://cjonline.com/news/state/2011-01-20/ksu-sets-security-panelists-sotomayor

I'm just saying.