Mondale-Quie Essay Contest
2023/24 Essay Contest
The Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society, with the support of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the Civil Litigation Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association, is sponsoring an essay contest that is open to Minnesota high school juniors and seniors. Students have an opportunity to receive up to $1,000 in prize money as they examine the role of the judiciary in our society.
Mondale-Quie Essay Contest Issue for 2023-24:
The First Amendment prohibits the government from making laws “abridging the freedom of speech.” Across the United States we see school curriculum laws and books removed from schools and libraries.
Question to be answered: Comparing Minnesota’s local control of school curriculum (decided by school boards) and other nationwide trends, how should the government be involved in deciding what to include in school curriculum and what books should be made available to schools and the public? What role, if any, should the First Amendment to the United States Constitution play in these decisions?
Contest Opens: October 16, 2023
Essays Due: January 16, 2024
Contest winners will be announced no later than March 31, 2024.
All participants must REGISTER HERE to be eligible for prizes. There is no cost to participate.
Please down the full ESSAY PACKET for complete rules, submission guidelines, references, and more.
Contest Winners
Thank you to our sponsorship partners, ABOTA and the MSBA Civil Litigation Section.
2022-23
Ella Horejsi from New Prague High School - The Second Amendment Interpretation
Leo Ogle from St. Thomas Academy - All But The Kitchen Sink: A Second Amendment Interpretation for the Safety of Schools
Emmet Wolf from St. Thomas Academy - The Second Amendment Inhibits Change
2021-22
First Place: William Benson | St. Thomas Academy, Class of 2022 | Common Good Environmentalism
Second Place: Aleen Jude | Minnetonka High School, Class of 2023 | Environmental Policy and Our Constitutions: Should They Be Kept Separate?
Third Place: Lucas Wagner | Eden Prairie High School, Class of 2023 | For Ourselves and Our Posterity: A Constitutional Environmental Right
2019-2020
First place: Mackenzie Schmidt | Homeschool, Class of 2020 | Felons Should Have the Right to Vote
Second place: Maddy Breton | St. Paul Academy, Class of 2020 | Second-Class Citizens: The Case Against Felon Disenfranchisement
Third place: Zachary Dyar | St. Paul Academy, Class of 2020 | The Disenfranchisement of Felons on Probation: A Breach of Fundamental Rights
Since we could not get together for the annual Awards Luncheon, the contest winners were recognized at a virtual ceremony with members of the court.
2018-2019
Gabriel Konar-Steenberg | St. Paul Academy and Summit School | Race is Real: The Equal Protection Implications of Desegregation and Affirmative Action
Lily Nestor | St. Paul Academy and Summit School | Solutions to Segregation: Quotas v. Holistic Review
Gabriela Hernandez | Breck School | Law of Ignorance
2017-2018
This year's essay contest explored hate speech in the context of the 25th Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in R.A.V. v. St. Paul. Thank you to our sponsorship partners, ABOTA and the MSBA Civil Litigation Section. Winning essays were selected by a panel of judges to receive a $500 scholarship.
The winning essays are:
Stephanie Frisch | St Paul Academy and Summit School | A National Dilemma: Hate Speech Censorship
Edmond Laird-Raylor | St. Paul Academy and Summit School | Regulation or Respect
Isabelle Lindahl | Chisago Lakes High School | One Nation, Under the Constitutional Amendments
Georgia Pharris | Southwest High School | Free Speech and its Limits
Amelia Roth | Cook County High School | Hate Speech is Free Speech
2016-2017
Carly Dammann - Chanhassen High School Essay
John (Campbell) Morrison - The Blake School Hand It Over:Exploring the Danger Of Power In an Age of Technological Advancement
Marie Nalan - Grand Rapids High School Reasonable Suspicion in the Digital Age
Grace Seeley - The Blake School The Fourth Amendment Strikes Back: When Can Student Phones Lawfully Be Searched?
Cole Woerner - The Blake School The Court Should Clarify, and do so with Care
Elena Stanley - Duluth East High School Expectation of Privacy
2015-2016
Ken Han – Eden Prairie High School A Day in the Life of the Magna Carta
Grant Kleiman – Hutchinson High School Magna Carta Matters Today
Celina Ough – East Ridge High School Protesting the Patriot Act
Katherine Yan – Eden Prairie High School Pay Discrimination, the Lilly Ledbetter Act, and the Magna Carta
2014-2015
Aaron Shoemaker - Saint Peter High School Social Media Ethics: The Rights of the Student in Public Schools
Julia Rock - The Blake School
Edwina King - Park Center Int’l Baccalaureate The Reality of Students in the Digital Age
Hannah Magarian - The Blake School
Weston Nelson - Roseau Homeschool Free Speech Comes With a Cost: Responsibility
2013-2014
Cade Zacharias - Hermantown
Christopher Hofstadter - Blake School
Kate Gross - Hawley Secondary
Andrew Magnuson - Chisago Lakes
Alex Long - Bryon High School in Rochester
