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Last week, the National High School Mock Trial Championship reversed its longstanding opposition to accommodating teams with weekend religious obligations, paving the way for Jewish day schools to be eligible to participate in the national tournament.

Starting with the upcoming 2010 tournament, the 25-year-old competition will allow teams who cannot participate on the Friday and Saturday schedule to instead compete on the preceding Thursday.

"In the event that the firmly held religious beliefs and practices of any of the members of a registered team's official competition roster conflict with the traditional Friday/Saturday competition schedule such that the team lacks sufficient team members to compete in the Friday/Saturday schedule, an accommodation may be requested pursuant to this Policy," according to a statement released by the National High School Mock Trial Championship.

John Wheeler, chair of the board of directors of the National High School Mock Trial Championship, said that the decision was not an easy one to make and that after "a little soul searching," the full national board of 15 people voted unanimously for the new policy.

The national organization's lack of a religious accommodation provision proved so controversial that it led to several states, including New Jersey, withdrawing from the competition and establishing their own alternative national competition, the American Mock Trial Invitational.

It also resulted in a congressional resolution, authored by Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and passed unanimously by the House in 2007, condemning the organization's practice.

In 1999, due to the increased number of Jewish day schools participating in mock trial competitions in New Jersey, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, which oversees the mock trial program in the state, petitioned the national organization to change their policy, according to Angela Scheck, executive director of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation.

No change was made, however, and the Friday/Saturday schedule remained in place.

In 2004, the issue was raised once again by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation after Seventh-Day Adventists and Islamic schools with scheduling conflicts began to participate in state competitions.

The tournament's scheduling policy garnered considerable attention in 2005, after the Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC), Teaneck, won the state title and thus qualified to represent New Jersey in the national competition, which was held in May that year in Charlotte, N.C.

After negotiations led by Rothman, whose district includes Teaneck, the national organization agreed to let TABC compete on the Thursday before the regular Friday and Saturday schedule.

"Congressman Rothman made an impassioned case about what a great opportunity it would be not only for the students of the Torah Academy of Bergen County, but also for the other students to see such an exercise in diversity," Robert Decheine, Rothman's chief of staff, told The Jewish State.

According to Yigal Marcus, who has been the coach of TABC's mock trial team since 1993, the national organization "stacked the deck against us" in the 2005 competition by having the team compete against four of the top 10 teams.

TABC finished 38th out of a total of 42 teams.

At the organization's meeting the following October, the board of directors voted to refuse any future accommodations.

In a letter obtained by The Jewish State to the New Jersey State Bar Foundation dated Oct. 17, 2005, Andrew McVey, the then-chair of the National High School Mock Trial Championship, wrote: "On October, 15, 2005, the National High School Mock Trial Championship, Inc. Board of Directors held its regularly scheduled mid-year meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Following further research of the positions of member organizations and discussion of the issue, a motion was made to maintain a schedule for all future National High School Mock Trial Championships, consisting of two rounds on Friday and two rounds on Saturday for all participating teams, followed by a Championship Round on Saturday. The motion carried."

In response, the New Jersey Bar Foundation, along with the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, withdrew their membership from the national organization and began their own tournament, the American Mock Trial Invitational, which has been held annually since 2006 on weekdays.

"We believe strongly that the [mock trial] program is a good one that teaches students about law and justice. Everyone, every student, should have an opportunity to participate regardless of their religion," Scheck told The Jewish State. "It's pretty fundamental. It's not like we're talking about the prom; that's not what we're arguing about."

At last spring's competition in Atlanta, the national organization initially declined to accommodate another day school, the Maimonides School of Massachusetts. After the Georgia State Bar Association, the state sponsor of the competition, threatened to withdraw use of its facilities if an accommodation was not made for the school, the tournament organizers provided scheduling accommodations.

The board of trustees of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation plans to meet within the next week to discuss whether to continue the American Mock Trial Invitational or rejoin the National High School Mock Trial Championship, according to Scheck.

"I'm hoping now we can move forward with this and provide the best possible forum for students to demonstrate their abilities," Wheeler said.

"It's been a long fight and I'm glad justice has prevailed," Rothman said in a statement released following the policy change. "I am pleased that the National High School Mock Trial Board has finally seen the light. This was obviously the right decision all along. It is still unbelievable to me that an organization that is supposed to teach students about our justice system was so insensitive to fundamental questions of equal protection and the rights of minorities."

Marcus agreed.

"I'm happy that the board finally made the right decision," he told The Jewish State. "It's been a long time in the coming and should have been made years ago, but better late than never."

Jeffrey Weisenberg, the principal of general studies at Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School in South River and the mock trial coach for the past three years, said that his team, which participates in the Middlesex County division, has never had a problem, since they schedule their competitions on weekdays.

"When I first started, there was only one other yeshiva school; now there's three or four, so I think it's great," Weisenberg said of the policy change and what it means for Jewish schools in the state who aspire to compete in the national competition.

Willie Roth, who was a member of the 2005 TABC team, said he was "pleasantly surprised" with the policy change.

"I'm very pleased that finally the recognition was made for such an accommodation and hopefully that other Jewish schools from across the country that want to compete at the highest level have the opportunity to do so," he said.

Roth, who is currently pursuing a joint BA/MA in Medieval Jewish Studies at New York University as well as smicha at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, plans to help Marcus coach this year's team.

"Hopefully we'll make it back this year to the national championship," Roth said, adding that "law school is definitely on the radar screen" for him.