61st Annual Theodore L. Reimel Moot Court Competition

The 61^st Annual Thomas L. Reimel Moot Court Competition record on appeal addresses the tension between the two religion clauses of the First Amendment, commonly known as the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause. The Free Exercise Clause protects individuals’ rights to believe in, and practice, the religion of their choice without governmental interference. The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from officially establishing a religion i.e., favoring one religion over another or favoring religion over the secular. 

Mandatory Reporter laws require most professionals, such as psychologists, doctors, teachers, etc. to report known or suspected incidents of child abuse or face legal penalties. Some mandatory reporter laws include clergy as mandatory reporters, while other exempt clergy under the “clergy-penitent privilege.” The clergy-penitent privilege in Illinois exempts clergy from testifying as to information learned “in the course of discipline enjoined in his or her capacity as a spiritual advisor.” In practice, Illinois’ clergy-penitent privilege only protects religions with tenets of secrecy, such as Catholicism with its Sacrament of Penance. 

In this fictional problem, the Illinois Supreme Court held that clergy were required to report instances of known or suspected child abuse in accord with Illinois Mandatory Reporter law, which in effect abrogates the clergy-penitent privilege for instances of child abuse. The Petitioner—a Catholic diocese—appealed the decision arguing that requiring Catholic clergymen to report instances of child abuse learned during confession violates a priest’s free exercise right by forcing him to choose between excommunication from his religion or abiding by secular law. 

Conversely, the Respondents—the family of a fifteen-year-old girl who was engaging in intimate relations with one of the Church’s parishioners—argue that exempting clergy from the mandatory reporter law violates the Establishment Clause by preferring religion over the secular and by favoring Catholicism at the expense of other religions. The Respondents focus on the limiting language of the statute tending to apply it to only a handful of religions and the fact that the Mandatory Reporter law requires most other professionals who work in close proximity with children to report abuse. This argument takes place in front of the United States Supreme Court.