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question, but it was probably theone question I really didn’t wantto answer,” Aronovitz said. “I gotit out of my mouth, I saw himnodding and that was a big confidencebooster.”Despite pointed questioningfrom the bench, the competitorswere confident in their answersbecause of weeks of practice facingrigorous grilling from theirprofessors.“What really made it mucheasier than you would havethought was that the questionsthe professors asked us in practicewere hard-hitting, adversarial,trying to get us to messup, and that prepared us to talkto these judges and justice whodidn’t want to do that,” Combestsaid. “They just wanted to talkback and forth. We had seen theworst, and anything less than thatwas just pleasant.”That’s not to say the juristsdidn’t ask the competitors sometough questions, probing theirarguments to find chinks in theirreasoning regarding complexlegal questions. As an example,Roberts questioned Davis on hisargument for the respondent thata four-prong approach shouldbe adopted when determiningwhether a message on a stateautomobile license tag is governmentor private speech.“The problem with multifactortests, of course, is thatthey delegate a huge amount ofdiscretion to the judiciary,” saidRoberts. “When you have fourfactors, they can be manipulatedin any way, and so you’re transferringthe determination fromthe legislature to the courts aboutwhat types of policies the governmentcan support and promote.Isn’t that problematic?”During deliberations, UFLaw Professor Lyrissa Lidskyaddressed the audience to outlinethe constitutional elements of thecase, stressing its importance despiteits hypothetical nature. Shenoted Florida was the first stateto have a “Choose Life” licenseplate and is also considering alicense plate with the words “IBelieve” with a picture of a cross.Although the “I Believe” tag hasbeen stalled in Florida, SouthCarolina recently approved an “IBelieve” license plate, and a lawsuithas already been filed in thematter, she said.“This is a very importantissue, it’s a hot issue, and somevery smart people in our appellatecourts have split on theconstitutionality of the issue,”Lidsky said.Although the bench eventuallyruled for the petitioner, Robertssaid all of the students performedwell.“We unanimously decided thatthere was not a bad one amongthem,” Roberts said. “That’s notalways the case, so we appreciatevery much, as we do in our dayjobs, that a lot of work went intothe presentations. Judges and justicesare very grateful when thathappens.”Aronovitz and Combest wonthe competition for the petitioner.Aronovitz was awarded best briefand best oral argument of thecompetition, while Davis tookhome the best overall participant.The event was sponsored by thelaw firms of Holland & Knightand Zimmerman, Kiser & Sutcliffe.The Charles W. Abbott Endowmentprovided scholarshipsfor the final four, the final fouralternate, the best oralist, and tothe author of the best brief. Dr.Joseph Rhile provided the ElizabethRhile scholarship for thebest overall competitor.“We depend so heavily on thejobs that the lawyers do, both inthe briefs and in the oral presenations,”said Roberts. “It alwaysmakes it a more enjoyable experienceto have counsel who’veput in long hours, as I can tell allfour of our advocates have.”—Ian Fisher and Lindy BrounleyTHE CASE ON REVIEWCharles ROBERSON, Secretary,Webb Dept. of Motor Vehicles, PetitionerRepresented by Kevin Combest and Cary Aronovitz,vs.PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WEBB, INC., RespondentRepresented by Robert Davis and Tara Nelson.In The Supreme Court Of The United States Of America, Fall Term, 2008Petitioner, Charles Roberson,Secretary of the WebbDepartment of Motor Vehicles(DMV), enforces and administers theState of Webb’s statute authorizinga specialty license plate with thewords “Choose Life.” The State ofWebb does not have a correspondingstatute allowing for a specialty licenseplate with the words “Pro-Choice.”University of FloridaJustice Campbell ThornalMoot Court Final Fourcompetitors (from left)Cary Aronovitz and RobertDavis take a final momentto study in a backstagehallway of the PhillipsCenter for the PerformingArts on Sept. 5.Planned Parenthood of Webb, Inc. (PPW) filed a civil action infederal district court against the DMV arguing that the statuteauthorizing the Choose Life license plate amounts to viewpointdiscrimination by the State of Webb in violation of the FirstAmendment. In response, the DMV argued that the federaldistrict court was deprived of subject matter jurisdiction tohear the case by operation of the Tax Injunction Act (TIA).Alternatively, the DMV argued that the Choose Life license platestatute need not be neutral because any message on a stateissuedlicense plate constitutes government speech. The districtcourt held in favor of PPW by finding that the TIA did notdeprive the district court of subject matter jurisdiction and thatthe statute authorizing the Choose Life license plate in the stateof Webb violates the First Amendment. The DMV appealed.The United States Court of Appeals for the Thirteenth Circuitaffirmed the district court’s decision and reasoned that becausemotorists who receive a Choose Life license plate voluntarily paya $25 charge, the charge imposed does not constitute a tax, nordoes the charge constitute a regulatory fee; rather it is a simplepurchase price. Consequently, the TIA did not preclude thedistrict court from exercising federal subject matter jurisdiction.The circuit court further reasoned that the license plate statuteviolates the First Amendment because the license platemessage constitutes private speech and the statute authorizingonly the “Choose Life” message impermissibly discriminatesagainst other viewpoints, mainly the “Pro-Choice” view. TheSupreme Court granted the DMV’s petition for certiorari. Beforethe Supreme Court are two issues: 1) whether the chargeimposed by the Choose Life license plate statute is a tax withinthe meaning of the TIA and; 2) if not, whether the “ChooseLife” message constitutes private speech and viewpointdiscrimination in violation of the First Amendment.FALL 2008 5