The folks who run the National High School Mock Trial Championship (NHSMTC)—hosted this year by the Georgia Bar—have decided that their rigid schedule is much more important than ensuring that kids of all religions can compete in their program. Their intransigence is baffling, mean-spirited, unfair and potentially unlawful.

The facts are fairly straightforward: the prestigious National High School Mock Trial Championship starts out with state competitions, held in courthouses under the auspices of state bars. One state bar then plays host to all of the state winners, affording them an opportunity to compete for national honors. The national championship, hosted this year by the Young Lawyers Division of the Georgia Bar, is scheduled to take place from May 7 to 9. Those dates include a Friday night and a Saturday, and pose a problem for the team from a Jewish school that won state honors in Massachusetts this year.

According to Jewish law, one may not work or compete on the Sabbath. With the support of the Massachusetts Bar, this school has asked for a slight modification of the competition schedule to allow them to compete without violating the tenets of their faith. Citing the difficulty of changing its schedule, NHSMTC has refused.

How to resolve such a conflict—scheduling vs. religious accommodation—is a question on which reasonable people can and do disagree. Digging a little deeper, however, the record belies any good faith efforts on NHSMTC's part to accommodate Jewish students and resolve this entirely avoidable problem.

In 2005, a team from a Jewish school in New Jersey won their state competition. When NHSMTC denied them an accommodation, that year's host state bar (North Carolina) insisted on a scheduling accommodation which allowed them to participate. Indeed, in that case more than a dozen teams willingly offered to adjust their schedules to allow the team from New Jersey to compete; only two adjustments were necessary. In short, when its hand was forced, the NHSMTC was able to accommodate the needs of religious competitors.

Despite the fact that the NHSMTC is deeply intertwined with state bars (many have paid coordinators for this competition) and is dependent upon state facilities and employees to run its program, following the 2005 competition the NHSMTC unilaterally voted to refuse to provide religious accommodations in the future. They thus dragged many state bars and public facilities into the uncomfortable position of sponsoring a program that effectively excludes observant Jews and other Saturday Sabbath observers—a position that is not only misguided, but also potentially unlawful.

Expressing appropriate indignation at this development, the United States House of Representatives passed a Resolution chastising the NHSMTC, calling on them "to restructure the rules of the competition to allow qualifying students of all faiths to compete fully in this national championship without betraying their religious beliefs." (H.Res. 110-25).

Simply put: NHSMTC knew of this issue years ago and, instead of dealing with it responsibly, decided to draw an absolutist line in the sand.

In drawing that line, NHSMTC ignored its serious legal, pedagogical and moral obligations:

• The competition, given its deep interconnectedness with state entities and facilities, is a public accommodation and thus cannot continue to discriminate on the basis of religion.

• They teach a terrible lesson: fastidious attention to a schedule will trump hard work and a willingness of others to work to accommodate religious needs. It is, as Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey said during the debate on H. Res 110-25, " ... not without irony that this was applied in a competition that is intended for legal and constitutional education."

• Perhaps most important, it is just plain unfair for the NHSMTC to wrap itself in the cloth of both government and the bar—using their facilities and employees—and then refuse to make room for all who demonstrate merit to participate in the competition.

We do not know why a prestigious organization like the NHSMTC would be willing to risk its reputation when prudence and reason seem to dictate otherwise. However, we can and must act in light of this extraordinary intransigence.

First, we call on the Georgia Bar, as host committee, to meet the standard set by their North Carolina colleagues and compel NHSMTC to do the fair thing and fully welcome these Jewish students into their competition with the assurance that if they advance, the schedule will be adjusted to accommodate their participation.

Next, we urge all state bars to insist this competition—this year and in the future—be fully open to religious accommodation—or refuse to give the NHSMTC further credibility by continued participation.

Students who participate in the National High School Mock Trial Championship learn many lessons about preparation, competition, and the law—an education that will stay with these future leaders throughout their personal and professional lives. By standing up and taking action on this issue, Georgia's lawyers will also teach those students the vital role that lawyers can play in securing justice and ensuring fair play.