By Emma Donahue, FTC law clerk

On Feb. 5, I attended the 76th annual Van Vleck moot court competition at GW Law. Chief Justice Roberts headed the three-judge panel, also consisting of Sixth Circuit Judge Joan Larsen and Eleventh Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa. It was Chief Justice Roberts’ second time judging this competition — the first being 20 years ago shortly after his appointment by President Bush.

The event had substantial security, with attendees waiting in a line wrapped around Lisner Auditorium to go through metal detectors. Only wallet-sized bags were permitted into the building, which was swarming with GW campus police. Two suited security guards flanked the stage for the entire two-hour event.

The case that was at issue in the moot court centered on a social media company with a fully automated, AI-driven platform that makes all decisions concerning content promotion and removal. “New Columbia” filed suit against the company for violating the Commonsense Artificial Intelligence Review Act’s mandate for human review of flagged content.

The judges ran a hot bench from the beginning, hitting competitors with hard-hitting questions concerning the legal issues and policy considerations surrounding AI. Chief Justice Roberts asked more than 12 questions per round (the most of any judge).

The petitioners ultimately prevailed. The Chief Justice gave positive feedback to both teams, praising their confidence and ability to push back on certain lines of questioning. He admitted to being “terrified” when arguing before the Supreme Court during his days as a litigator, which contributed to his admiration of the competitors’ poise and demeanor. He also highlighted their briefs’ accessibility to judges, saying the competitors “showed appreciation for the fact that the argument would later be before generalists.”

As thanks for his participation, the GW Law Moot Court Board gifted the Chief Justice a golf ball with a Buffalo Bills logo on it in homage to his love for sports.

Fix the Court looks forward to adding that to our expanded list of SCOTUS gifts, which we’ll be releasing in the spring.