The final round of the 2025 Cuccia Cup Moot Court Competition took place on October 25 in the MacDonald Moot Court Room. This year’s hard-fought victory went to Paige Hoss ’27 and Sahil Venkatesan ’27, who argued against Jack Nassau ’26 and Garrett Taylor ’26. In the fictional case of Jewel v. Cousins, Hoss and Venkatesan represented the petitioner, while Nassau and Taylor argued on behalf of the respondent.

The final round of the competition was judged by a distinguished panel:

• Hon. John H. Chun ’94, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
• Hon. Nancy Koppe ’92, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada
• Hon.  Virginia Kendall, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• Hon. Catherine Henry, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Hon. Colleen Holland ’10, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York

The case centered on whether a plaintiff can invoke the right to receive information to challenge a public library’s decision to remove books, and whether a public library’s removal of certain books from its collection constitutes government speech.

The winners of the Louis Kaiser Best Brief Competition were Garrett Taylor ’27 and Leonardo Villa-Forte ’27.

Prize money for the Cuccia Cup is funded annually through endowed gifts from the Cuccia family. Prizes for the Best Brief are funded through an endowed gift from Louis Kaiser, LL.B. ’21.

The Cuccia Cup is the only competition within the Law School where competitors argue in teams of two. Any student who participates in the Cuccia Cup fulfills part of the requirements to join the Moot Court Board.