At the Marshall-Brennan National Moot Court Competition held March 21-23 in Philadelphia., four of the eight high school students competing from East Baton Rouge Parish School System made it to the quarter-final round.

Sixty-eight high school students from seven states and the District of Columbia participated in the competition. All participating students argued two rounds on Saturday morning. Eighteen petitioners and 18 respondents with top scores moved forward into the quarter-final round on Saturday afternoon.

The four area students who made it to the quarter-final round were: Tia Benton, Edcharra Cage and Charcie Robins, all of Scotlandville Magnet High School; and Jamie Turner of Glen Oaks High School. The local region had the second-highest number of participants compared to other regions, but none of the local students made it to the semi-final round.

In February, Benton and Robins of the Scotlandville High School’s student team were the regional competition’s first-place winners. In addition, Scotlandville High’s Cage won the Top Oral Advocate Award.

Glen Oaks High School 11th graders Turner, Rhonda Lynette Williams and Shanderrick Cornell Williams made it to the regional event’s final competition at the Louisiana Court of Appeal.  They placed second overall regionally. In addition, top-scoring regional participants who entered the national competition also included Belaire High School’s Paris Gurley and Sherman Vicks.

The Southern University Law Center Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project is a collaboration between Southern University Law Center and high schools in East Baton Rouge Parish. The vision for the program is to empower high school students to be responsible citizens and lifelong participants in the democratic process by teaching them about their constitutional rights and responsibilities through the Supreme Court cases that affect students directly.