AU Washington College of Law to Host Mock Appeal of Martin Luther’s Conviction: The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation before a Panel of Federal Appellate Judges from the DC Circuit
Oct. 16, 2017
American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL), in conjunction with the Kay Spiritual Life Center, is holding a special re-enactment of Martin Luther’s appeal before the Holy Roman Empire, with three United States Court of Appeals judges presiding. D.C. Circuit Judges David S. Tatel, Cornelia T.L. Pillard and Robert L. Wilkins will hear arguments from two AUWCL students in the Weinstein Moot Court Room on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the law school’s new Tenley Campus.
“We are honored and delighted to welcome three highly distinguished federal jurists to our law school to wrestle with age-old tensions about the separation of religion and state,” said Dean Camille A. Nelson. “We are proud of Adjunct Professor Richard Katskee and our two AUWCL students who have done so much work to prepare for this event. An open examination of political power alongside the rule of law is a hallmark of our institution.”
“The entire university has come together to re-examine one of the most important moments in Western history, with reverberations that are felt to this very day. We are grateful to the law school, the honorable jurists, and Professor Katskee and for helping keep alive the ideals of the Reformation, as well as their applicability to modern day life for citizens throughout the globe,” said Mark Schaefer, American University’s Chaplain and director of the Kay Spiritual Life Center.
Martin Luther publicly condemned the Catholic Church in October 1517, famously nailing The 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Castle door in what is now Germany. Consequently, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther from the Church in January 1521. Several months later the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, ordered Luther’s writings burned, called for Luther’s arrest, and permitted anyone to kill Luther without consequence. It is in this tumultuous climate that Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms, an assembly of estate holders of the Roman Empire.
Tuesday night’s mock appeal will seek loosely to re-create the legal arguments before the Diet of Worms. Registration will be begin at 6:00 pm and the appeal will begin at 6:30pm, running until approximately 7:30 pm. A reception in the AUWCL Atrium will follow the court hearing. All members and friends of the American University community are cordially invited.