{"id":381,"date":"2011-10-19T13:44:38","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T18:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hlsorgs.com\/bsa\/?page_id=381"},"modified":"2026-08-18T14:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T14:12:18","slug":"final-round","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/ames-competition\/final-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Ames Final Round"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n

The Ames Final Round<\/h1>\n
<\/div>\n

The Final Round marks the culmination of the Ames Competition.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n \n

\n
Congratulations to the
2025 Best Overall Team<\/div>\n
The Honorable Charles Fried Memorial Team<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n

The Case<\/p>\n\n \n

\n
State of Ames v. Welles<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

Daniel Welles is a serial entrepreneur whose ambition has always outstripped his ability. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, things appeared to be finally falling into place: he had just converted an old gin distillery into a hand-sanitizer manufactory when demand for hand sanitizer spiked. He was not, however, able to capitalize on his good timing. As part of the declaration of a public health emergency, the Governor of the State of Ames authorized the state hospital system to operate Welles’ equipment for the State’s public benefit.<\/p>\n

His equipment was returned after the emergency ended, but his opportunity had passed. He was never paid for its use, and Ames lacks any statutory or common-law mechanism for a taking of private property for public benefit. Welles sued Ames directly under the Fifth Amendment, arguing that it provides its own cause of action for “just compensation” and effects a waiver of state sovereign immunity. The district court dismissed; the Court of Appeals for the Ames Circuit reversed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on two questions:<\/p>\n

\n
1.<\/div>
Whether the Fifth Amendment creates a self-executing cause of action to redress an alleged taking.<\/div><\/div>\n
2.<\/div>
Whether the Eleventh Amendment bars plaintiffs from seeking \u201cjust compensation\u201d directly under the Fifth Amendment from a State in federal court absent a waiver of sovereign immunity.<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n
\n

Read The Parties’ Briefs<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Petitioner Brief<\/a>\n Respondent Brief<\/a>\n Reply Brief<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n
\n

The Bench<\/h2>\n
\n
The Hon. Elizabeth Prelogar<\/div>
Solicitor General of the United States (2021\u20132025)<\/div><\/div>\n
The Hon. Kevin Newsom<\/div>
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit<\/div><\/div>\n
The Hon. Leondra Kruger<\/div>
Supreme Court of California<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n
\n

The Finalist Teams<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
Petitioner<\/div>\n
The William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. Memorial Team<\/div>\n
\n
Lev Cohen<\/div>\n
Justin Curl<\/div>\n
Sophie Li \u2014 Best Oralist<\/span><\/div>\n
Sophia Loughlin<\/div>\n
G. Terrell Seabrooks \u2014 Oralist<\/span><\/div>\n
Sadie Statman<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
Respondent<\/div>\n
The Charles Fried Memorial Team<\/div>\n
\n
Nathalie Beauchamps<\/div>\n
Joe Caplis<\/div>\n
Joshua Grambow<\/div>\n
Nicholas Nelson \u2014 Oralist<\/span><\/div>\n
Paneez Oliai \u2014 Oralist<\/span><\/div>\n
Coy Ozias<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n
\n

Read Their Semi-Final Briefs<\/h2>\n
\n

<\/p>\n The Coleman Jr. Memorial Team \u2192<\/a>\n The Charles Fried Memorial Team \u2192<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n View Past Ames Competition Winners \u2192<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n \n
\n

Questions about the Final Round?
Email the Ames Committee at amesHLS@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ames Final Round The Final Round marks the culmination of the Ames Competition. Congratulations to the 2025 Best Overall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":893,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"class_list":["post-381","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P5BJdO-69","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3539,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/381\/revisions\/3539"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.law.harvard.edu\/bsa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}