The Youngstown State University Moot Court team will be engaging in a Constitution Day debate on the constitutionality of a federal vaccine mandate on Friday, Sept. 17 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The team will be joined by an Ohio Supreme Court Justice, a Former acting Assistant Attorney General of the United States and a judge with the 7th District Court of Appeals for this debate. 

The Moot Court Team will be aruguing a hypothetical case involving the constitutionality of a federal Polio vaccine mandate. Although this is a hypothetical case involving Polio vaccines rather than COVID-19, the legal issues discussed can be applied to COVID vaccine mandates as well.

Students will be relying on existing Supreme Court precedents to argue both sides of the issue and will face questions from a panel of judges. The judges who will be present are as follows:

-Judge Pat DeWine of the Ohio Supreme Court

-Judge Chad Readler, former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the United States. Currently a judge on the Federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

-Judge Gene Donofrio of the 7th District Court of Appeals for the State of Ohio

The debate is virtual and will be live streamed on YSU's YouTube channel starting at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. Those interested can subscribe to YSU's channel and turn on notifications to be notified when the debate goes live.