October 29, 2025
SIU Health Law Moot Court to examine ADA, mental health issues
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Law school students from around the country will compete this weekend as the Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School hosts the National Health Law Moot Court competition, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, to argue a fictitious case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Twenty-two teams from 15 schools across the country will participate in the 34th Health Law Moot Court — the only mock U.S. Supreme Court competition dedicated to the always evolving and expanding topic of health law.
Media availability
For more information on the SIU Simmons Law School National Health Law Moot Court and to arrange the best times for interviews on Saturday, Nov. 1, contact Chris Sielaff, competition director, at christopher.sielaff@siu.edu.
Teams will compete in the law school’s Hiram H. Lesar Law Building with preliminary rounds on Friday. The final round at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Rhode Covington Moot Court Room, will be livestreamed via Teams. The final round video will also be available on the law school’s moot court board YouTube channel. The livestream link will be posted on the YouTube channel Friday morning.
The health law moot court competition is a “flagship program that has spanned decades. The competition reflects our school’s longstanding focus on health law,” said Hannah Brenner Johnson, dean of the SIU Simmons Law School.
Cases argued before legal, health professionals
This year’s problem involves three people who are suing their state for putting them “at-risk” of institutionalization in a mental health facility, alleging that the risk violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), said Chris Sielaff, competition director. The Department of Justice is also trying to intervene as a third party to the lawsuit, arguing that it has the independent ability to enforce Title II of the ADA. Meanwhile, the state is arguing that the three plaintiffs do not have standing to sue because they are not currently institutionalized and that the Justice Department does not have any right to intervene in citizen lawsuits brought under the ADA.
The competitors will argue their case in front of judges, practicing attorneys, law school faculty and legal medicine professionals. There will be more than 100 judges covering the preliminary rounds.
The final round judges are SIU Simmons Law School Dean Hannah Brenner Johnson, Dr. Jennifer Unis Sullivan, president of the American College of Legal Medicine, and W. Eugene Basanta, Southern Illinois Healthcare Professor of Law emeritus, who helped build the competition and develop the joint J.D./M.D. program at SIU.
Competition run by SIU law students
The competition is run primarily by second- and third-year SIU Simmons Law School students who comprise the Moot Court Board, said Sielaff, a 2019 SIU law school graduate and assistant appellate defender with the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender. As the event host, SIU’s moot court team does not compete.
“The third-year students have already participated in competitions and helped with last year’s health law competition, and they will act as mentors for the second-year students, who will be starting a new chapter in their law school and legal careers,” said Sielaff, an SIU moot court alumnus. “Not only do the students receive class credit for their work on the board, but they get to experience what appellate litigation is like, from drafting a brief all the way to arguing before a panel of judges.”
Sponsors are SIU Simmons Law School, the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM), the American Health Law Association (AHLA) and Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH).