COLUMBUS (April 22, 2026) - The Ohio Center for Law-Related Education (OCLRE) will host its annual high school Moot Court Competition at the Thomas J. Moyer Judicial Center in Columbus, OH on Friday, May 1. Students will take on the role of appellate attorneys and argue both sides of an original case.
Students representing the following schools from across the state will participate: Chesterton Academy of St. Benedict (Franklin County), Danville High School (Knox County), Kings High School (Warren County), Laurel School (Cuyahoga County), Mason High School (Warren County), Reading Community High School (Hamilton County), Saint Ignatius High School (Cuyahoga County), Talawanda High School (Butler County), Upper Arlington High School (Franklin County) and Zanesville High School (Muskingum County).
Each year, OCLRE volunteers create a new case based on issues of constitutional or statutory law. This year, students will consider the line between acceptable speech and government coercion. A “challenge” circulating on the social media platform “Looped” led to a rash of incidents in schools across the state of Buckeye, resulting in damages to schools and student injuries. Jordan Ellis, the Director of the Buckeye Department of Education & Workforce, wrote a letter to Looped, Inc., imploring Looped to review their policy to flag, review and remove similar content to prevent future damage and injuries. Looped sought a preliminary injunction, alleging that the letter was meant to coerce Looped into censoring or limiting content on the platform. The trial court ultimately sided with Looped, but the Court of Appeals reversed the decision. Looped is now appealing to the Supreme Court.
“Every year, the Moot Court case committee tries to consider topics that are at the forefront of legal discussion as well as those that are relevant to the students’ lives to support discussion and critical thinking in Ohio classrooms,” said Danielle Rains, Moot Court program coordinator. “This year, we wanted students to explore an additional facet of the social media challenges that are popular among teens: what restrictions do their administrators and state officials face when trying to confront the effects of these trends in their schools?”
Moot Court teams compete in legal brief-writing and oral argument rounds in which they argue both sides of the case to persuade a simulated Supreme Court on how the case should be decided. The championship round of the competition will be broadcast on The Ohio Channel’s website.
Justice Patrick Fischer of the Ohio Supreme Court will preside over the championship round of competition. Fellow panelists include Nikki Baszynski, Esq., The Wren Collective; Tiffany Carwile, Esq., Kohrman, Jackson, and Krantz, LLP; John Hance, Esq., Garvin Hickey; and Thomas Stolly, Esq., Stolly Law Offices, Ltd.
The Ohio Center for Law-Related Education (OCLRE) is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to improve society by developing citizens empowered with an understanding of our democratic system. OCLRE is sponsored by the Supreme Court of Ohio, Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Ohio State Bar Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation. The Moot Court program is additionally funded by a grant from the Ohio State Bar Foundation. For more information, visit www.oclre.org.
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