The format is modeled along the lines of a "moot court" with 2 students each arguing one side of a particular case. Generally, the instructor would ask students to consult with each other before their presentations, if they did not have an immediate preference for one side or the other. Then the class would hear arguments from "petitioners" and "respondents" for the case. The students in the rest of the class served as judges, asking questions and interrupting at liberty. The idea is to create as much of the feeling of an actual Supreme Court oral argument as possible, but at a certain point, once the basic points are made, the argument would open up into a general class discussion.