Ninth Circuit Court Judge Carlos Bea Presides Over 2008 Madison Reenactment
On April 16, 2008, the School of Law reenacted the landmark case of Worcester v. Georgia (1832) at the annual Madison Lecture and Reenactment. Honorable Carlos Bea of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit presided over the court in the role of Chief Justice John Marshall. The event featured arguments by attorneys Scott Steiner on behalf of the State of Georgia and James Harris on behalf of Worcester (and the Cherokee Nation). Mr. Steiner is an Orange County Deputy District Attorney, and a student in Chapman’s LL.M. in Prosecutorial Science program, while Mr. Harris is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Sidley Austin LLP, and is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Brief comments and a question and answer session followed the reenactment, moderated by Dr. Paul Apodaca of the Chapman University Department of Sociology and featuring Dean John Eastman and Dr. Ronald Steiner of the School of Law. The following students sat as justices alongside Judge Bea, all members of Chapman's Moot Court Board: Katia Benthale, Jemma Eriksen, Carrie McAllister Law, Ryan Ortuno, Brandon Sylvia and Aaron Vaughan. The students were well-prepared for the task, peppering counsel with a number of insightful and challenging questions.
Worcester is the final case in the legendary “Marshall Trilogy,” the three cases in which Chief Justice John Marshall laid down the principles that govern federal Indian law to this day. Though the case was a criminal prosecution against Samuel Worcester, a Christian missionary serving the Cherokee people, it ultimately hinged on the competing claims to sovereignty and police power made by the State of Georgia, the Cherokee Nation, and the Federal Government. The resolution of the case secured federal recognition of Indian reservations, though it did not stop the Cherokee themselves from being displaced via the notorious “Trail of Tears.” The legal recognition of a distinct tribal identity laid down in the Marshall Trilogy survives today, and is manifest most dramatically in the rise of Indian gaming in Southern California.
On April 16, 2008, the School of Law reenacted the landmark case of Worcester v. Georgia (1832) at the annual Madison Lecture and Reenactment. Honorable Carlos Bea of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit presided over the court in the role of Chief Justice John Marshall. The event featured arguments by attorneys Scott Steiner on behalf of the State of Georgia and James Harris on behalf of Worcester (and the Cherokee Nation). Mr. Steiner is an Orange County Deputy District Attorney, and a student in Chapman’s LL.M. in Prosecutorial Science program, while Mr. Harris is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Sidley Austin LLP, and is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Brief comments and a question and answer session followed the reenactment, moderated by Dr. Paul Apodaca of the Chapman University Department of Sociology and featuring Dean John Eastman and Dr. Ronald Steiner of the School of Law. The following students sat as justices alongside Judge Bea, all members of Chapman's Moot Court Board: Katia Benthale, Jemma Eriksen, Carrie McAllister Law, Ryan Ortuno, Brandon Sylvia and Aaron Vaughan. The students were well-prepared for the task, peppering counsel with a number of insightful and challenging questions. 
Worcester is the final case in the legendary “Marshall Trilogy,” the three cases in which Chief Justice John Marshall laid down the principles that govern federal Indian law to this day. Though the case was a criminal prosecution against Samuel Worcester, a Christian missionary serving the Cherokee people, it ultimately hinged on the competing claims to sovereignty and police power made by the State of Georgia, the Cherokee Nation, and the Federal Government. The resolution of the case secured federal recognition of Indian reservations, though it did not stop the Cherokee themselves from being displaced via the notorious “Trail of Tears.” The legal recognition of a distinct tribal identity laid down in the Marshall Trilogy survives today, and is manifest most dramatically in the rise of Indian gaming in Southern California.