I know a lot of judges pontificate for 1000+ words and detail every element of their judging philosophy. I'm not one of those judges. For one thing, I have a life. For another, my philosophy when it comes to judging is actually pretty simple.

Debate is a competition about COMMUNICATION. It's an argument about ideas. That means that the arguments you make matter and the way you make them matters just as much. I'm a flow judge and will penalize debaters who drop points altogether. Extending an argument by reference or even within the context of clash doesn't take much time. Even if it just seems like you ran out of time, who am I to know whether you actually just have no good evidence to refute your opponent? At the end of the day, if both contestants make good arguments but one has points that they extend that were never addressed, those contentions flow in their direction and may determine the ballot. It's only fair.

But the way you make the argument is often overlooked but SO important. This is particularly true in L/D, which after all is an event steeped in the history of the Lincoln/Douglas debates of the mid-19th century and Public Forum, which traces its roots to Ted Turner's frustration with the deterioration of debate as a contest of communication. Can you imagine Abraham Lincoln spreading? Me neither. I respect your ability to spread, but the cacophony of words issuing from your mouth isn't communication, it's a gimmick, substituting quantity over quality. I can't award you wins on arguments if my flow can't keep up with your rate of speech. And if two debaters clash and each make good points, and I can't quite decide who won the argument of ideas, I'll use speaking ability and persuasiveness to break ties and award victories. I also reserve the right to award higher speaker points to the losing debater. After all, sometimes the better speaker has worse arguments.

I'm not a fan of theory debates. Disclosure Theory, in particular, seems like a very lame way to frame a debate and go for a win. I came for a debate on the merits pro/con on a matter of public policy. That's what this whole exercise is about. I am very likely to judge the round based on who makes the best arguments on that front. I've never considered a theory argument an RFD. It's not to say that I never will... it's just to say that I never have previously.

Professionally, I served for nearly five years as Secretary of the Senate for the State of Nevada and for three years as Director of the Kentucky Legislature. I see facilitating speech and debate as fundamental to the health of our democracy, which let's face it could use more cogent well-reasoned well-informed debates.

I missed my high school graduation in order to go to NSDA Nationals in my senior year of high school, over 25 years ago. Speech and Debate runs in my blood. I love being a part of this and hope you find as much fulfillment out of it as I do. Good luck.

tl;dr Debate is a contest of communications. Speak well, make good arguments, earn my ballot!

POLICY DEBATE

I competed in varsity policy debate for one year, and 2015-2016 is my fourth season judging high school policy debate. I am a policymaker judge.

And, I hate spreading!

• I will not flow arguments I don't understand because of your poor delivery skills
• I can't extend your argument through a round if I never had it down at all
• One of your goals as a CX debater is to stack as many arguments as you can, but you absolutely must remain within your own limit of what you can deliver properly

This is a public speaking debate event. Act and speak like it. If you simply want to have the most number of arguments for "education" purposes, you should instead write 50-page white papers and I'd gladly read them. If you are going too fast, I will call "clear" or drop my pen or just stare at you or any combination thereof, thus, not flowing.

IMPORTANT: Signpost, signpost, signpost!

I don't want to have to figure out for you where your argument or card ends and where the next one starts. It's your job to tell me that. If you don't, and tell me in a later speech to extend an argument you did not signpost properly, I won't be able to find your argument.

If you must deviate from your roadmap, say it. If you're all over the place, you risk my not being able to catch an argument because I'm trying to find where to flow you. Organization is also critical in your speaker points.

Stock issues are prima facie burdens

Aff always has the prima facie burden of proving stock issues. Aff can lose my ballot if the burden of proof for ALL stock issues are not met.

• Topicality: Yes, I vote on T, but Neg has a responsibility to run sensible and ethical T arguments. I've voted against T many times before for being outlandish, frivolous, or otherwise a misrepresentation of facts.

Cards that say differently from their tags...

...Are unethical, abusive, and strictly prohibited. If there is a dispute, be prepared to show me the cards in question. If this is a pattern, expect your speaker points to plummet, and could potentially cost you the round.

Tag team cross-examination: Never in varsity rounds, always in novice rounds. I may prohibit this in JV rounds if at least one student opposes it very strongly. When tag teaming is allowed, I will still score each speaker's performance separately.

Cross-examination and prep time: I don't flow cross-examination so they don't affect who wins the round, but they are a large part of your speaker points and should affect how you try to win my ballot. Stealing prep time is strictly prohibited. "Stop prep" means that you are ready to transfer, not save, your files. When somebody has already stood up ready to give me a roadmap and start the speech, no one is allowed to be prepping in the background.

Kritiks: I'm a policymaker judge. If you can't present a K with the stated goal of directly affecting the policy I should enact/reject as your adjudicator, don't run K. If you can, more power to you!

CPs, PICs: These are fair game. I'm open to basic theory debate about CPs and PICs. But, other than that, I am a policymaker judge.

Speaker points: Because this is a high-speed debate (but I still do hate spreading!), I will not judge your body language technique. But, I will judge your overall attitude, which shows very evidently in your body language. How you speak - voice, enunciation, inflection, analysis, rhetoric, organization, etc. - will all be judged. I will only judge arguments on my flow, not performance, to determine who wins the round. I very rarely give perfect speaker points because most policy debaters tend to be good at spewing and absolutely terrible at delivery skills.

Theory debate: I'm a policymaker judge. Some theory arguments may be necessary, but I will hate a round full of theory blocks.

No new arguments in rebuttals!

This is simple and straightforward. Read new cards in the rebuttals if necessary but only to support arguments you've already made in the constructives. That said:

• If 2AC drops 1NC argument: it will be considered conceded as Aff does not have another chance to counter it
• If 2NC drops an Aff argument: the 1NR cannot construct a new argument to counter it
• If the 2NC constructs a new argument: the 1AR must answer or drop, where a drop means conceded

I'm not impressed by sophistry.

Table of Contents

General Info

LD Paradigm

PF Paradigm

World Schools Paradigm

General Dislikes/Notes

Theory Issues

General Info

Started Judging: 2008

Started Coaching: 2010

Events Coached: LD, PF, Policy, Extemp, World Schools

Delivery: I don't want emails, flash drives, or printed copies. This is a speaking event and I plan to judge your argument based on your delivery of your case and rebuttals. I can handle fast talking, but no longer try to keep up with spreading. There is no educational merit, and many downsides, to encouraging students to speak at vastly accelerated paces.

Cross (excluding World Schools): I expect debaters to be polite during cross, but do not consider interruptions to be impolite. I understand cross time is limited and if you have the information you want and wish to move on to another question I understand.

RFD - If the tournament allows it, I will be happy to give my decision and discuss as long as competitors want/tournament time allows. If the tournament doesn't allow it, I will not disclose. If you try to get me to disclose at a tournament that doesn't allow disclosure I will take points away from you.

Lincoln-Douglas

Overview: LD is a moral debate that is meant to look at the underlying value of an issue. I favor a broad based approach that looks at the totality of the resolution vs. cases that over-focus on single examples or instances.

Values: I expect both debaters to have a value/standard/etc that clarifies the moral principle they are pushing for. Broadly speaking, I recognize values as automatic principles that don't need additional defense. If you tell me the most important moral issue is ensuring liberty/equality/artistic expression/self-actualization, I'll accept it as good. Having a sentence or two to explain the value/why you think it is important can be very helpful, but I don't need a long defense of the concept.

It is very hard, though not impossible, to disprove a value during a debate. Generally I expect to see the debate be about whether each side actually accomplishes the value they have outlined, not whether the value is morally good (the latter question becomes very hard for any person to judge without bringing their personal feelings into the debate).

Burden: Each side in LD has an equal burden. There is no Aff presumption that they get to set the terms, nor is there any Aff burden that they have to prove more than the Neg.

Flow: While I expect debaters to argue on the flow structure, I'm more looking to the upholding of the central principle (value) then whether debaters covered every contention.

Plans: I don't want to hear a plan and they usually don't make sense within the context of LD. That said, there are two very different types of plans that come up.

Broad explanations: Presume the motion: 'The US should end fossil fuel subsidies.' If the plan was that that US would end all payments to fossil fuel companies over the next five years, that would be fine. That's a common sense interpretation of what the motion is asking. I consider that more of an observation on the burdens of the resolution.

Narrow Plans: Taking the above motion, if the plan was 'the US will end payments to coal companies', to me that would be a bad plan. The Aff in this instance is trying to unfairly narrow the debate. The resolution's burden was end fossil fuel subsidies, not to end one type of fossil fuel subsidies. In such an example if the Neg said the Aff hadn't upheld the resolution, I'd almost certainly agree.

Both sides in a debate have an obligation to argue the entirety of the motion. Single, narrow examples on either side that don't relate to a broader principle are not enough to prove your side correct or the opponent's side incorrect.

Public Forum

PF is meant to be delivered to a general audience, not to people experienced with debate. Thus I will judge it as who did better communicating to a general audience. Please keep debate jargon to a minimum.

Final Focus is meant to narrow down the debate and explain the most important issues. It should be between 1 and 3 points. A final focus should not try to explain every single contention.

World Schools

Scoring - My ultimate decision will be based on the final score. Even if I feel like a certain team won, if the points say otherwise, I decide on the points. Unless I hear differently at judge instructions my scoring standard is -

68 - 70: A fine speech. This was either a performance that was neither particularly good nor bad, or had some really good moments mixed with some really bad moments.

64 - 67: A speech below standard. This range doesn't say that a speaker gave a bad speech, just that the speech was either underwhelming or had some problems.

71 - 75: A great speech. The speaker hit good points, spoke well, used their time well, etc.

Above a 75 is reserved for truly amazing speeches. On a level of "I ran out of the room to tell other people how amazing it was".

Below 64 is reserved for a speech with serious mistakes. The most likely is a speech that is off topic/framework and thus suffers on the content and strategy score.

What I'm looking for in each area:

Content - Logic, analysis, explanation, and evidence. Good content should be backed up by logic and explanation, but also thoroughly explained for how it helps your side. Just stating an opinion, even of an expert, on an issue isn't enough; it needs to be explained and tied to the overall argument.

Style - This is scored just like an oratory. I look for things like eye contact, understandable speed, clarity, emphasis through tone/volume changes or pauses to call emphasis to key points, and emotion and interest. Humor and/or emotional intensity may gain points if appropriate for the motion.

Strategy - Was the speech well put together? Was time well spent on the key issue, or where minor portions of the debate given too much attention? Did the speaker belabor arguments he/she had already won?

POIs - I expect a speaker to take between two and three POIs during his/her speech. These should be spread throughout the speech. If the first two are taken, and all others ignored, I will not count that as taking a good number of POIs.

If only one POI is taken I will give a slight penalty. If zero POIs are taken that will get a major penalty.

Taking excessive POIs will hurt the strategy score. The only exception to this is if the speaker is winning (improving their side) when taking POIs - in that case continuing to take POIs is acceptable.

If a team is not trying to ask their opponent POIs, or asking very infrequently, then obviously the requirement to take two to three disappears.

POIs should be no longer than 15 seconds. That is the absolute max amount of time I think you have a right to take from an opponent. The speaker has the right to cut the POI off at any point and answer/continue.

Barraging - I think it is reasonable to stand 12 to 15 times during an opponent's speech (this is for the entire opposing team). Even going up to 20 could be acceptable. More than that though and you are taking away from the opponent's right to give a speech. For online WSD this should be cut in half.

I will take away/reward to 2 points per speaker based on quality of POIs. A bad POI is one that the opponent is able to use to strengthen their own case or just a waste of time. A good POI strengthens the case of the deliverer or points to a weakness in the opponent's argument.

Framework/Terms of Debate - The prop has the right to set the framework for the debate. I define framework as an explanation of what the motion means, what, if any, specific burdens exist, what, if any, things are trying to be achieved, and what, if any, mechanism is being used (if any of those are not being done, because they don't need to be, you don't need to tell me, I'll understand). This framework should be fair and reasonable.

Fair - Does it give both teams an equal chance to win. If you try to define the debate in a way that substantially benefits your team, even if all your definitions are correct/unchallenged, you will lose.

Reasonable - Was this framework something that a person would consider the motion to mean upon hearing it? This framework should be based more on a common understanding of the words, not strict dictionary definitions.

Example - If the motion was 'THBT the death penalty is a just punishment for heinous crimes' and the prop tried to argue that they only had to show a single example, that would be a bad framework. It's not fair to the opposition and no person who was asked that motion would think they were being asked about a single hypothetical instance. If the proposition defined it as 'only in cases of premeditated murder' or 'for war crimes or crimes against humanity', either of those would most likely be fair.

Challenging Framework - If you believe the framework is unfair/abusive/unreasonable, you may challenge it. If you want to make a slight adjustment/clarification/addition you may also do that, but here I am focusing on a challenge to the entire framework proposed.

Alternative - You must offer an alternative framework. This must conform to the above standards of fair and reasonable.

First Thing - The challenge to the framework must be the first thing in the speech. If the prop disagrees with the opposition framework, it must be the first thing in their speech (and so on until there is an agreement on framework or we're out of debate).

Debate under that Framework - You must debate under the framework proposed at the beginning of the speech. You may not debate under both frameworks. If you believe you can debate under the proposition framework then that is what you should have been doing.

I don't like framework debate. If the proposition framework is fair and reasonable and the opposition challenges it, the opposition will probably lose. Likewise if the proposition proposes an unfair framework, they will likely lose.

Other Issues:

When a speaker finishes, the next speaker should promptly proceed to wherever speeches are being given. There is no prep time. You may organize your materials, but you should not be having a conversation with your teammates. Once you get to the speaking position please confirm that I am ready for you to begin.

General Dislikes (All Debates)

If a team falsifies their evidence I will always vote them down. I do not care about the level of impact it had on the debate or whether the mistake was done via maliciousness or negligence. I see falsification as any of the following:

-Creating a piece of evidence

-Changing the wording of the evidence to alter meaning

-Cutting the evidence in a way to leave out arguments that might hurt your case.

I will also punish misinterpretations of the evidence, though the degree of penalty is determined by the level of misinterpretation. I see this as situations where the speaker makes substantial errors about the quality of the source, who paraphrases the evidence in a manner that is not accurate, or misunderstands the point the author was making.

Things I commonly see that I dislike

"My opponent did not attack X contention, therefore they must agree." This isn't true. If an opponent hasn't gotten to an argument in the time allowed for them to make their initial arguments, they can not offer any new evidence, but that doesn't mean they agree. The fact that they have their own case means they have principles that disagree with you and they can always argue why their side is more important. Also, many times people will claim their opponent hasn't attacked a certain contention when I have on my flow that they have.

"If I can prove just a 1% chance of this impact, I should win this debate." This is a profoundly silly line of argument.

"My evidence says I'm right" "Well, my evidence says I'm right", "What my opponent is forgetting is that my evidence says I'm right". I commonly see debates that just become a circle of the debaters going back to the evidence they read that backed their side and inherently presuming their evidence is superior to their opponents. During evidence clashes someone has to explain why their evidence is superior: more topical, better source, more logical, etc.

If you have an important piece of evidence, please explain the validity of the source if the name doesn't explain it (major news organizations, magazines, politicians, college institutions, could have an explanation, but don't need one per se). If I just hear 'According to Williams in 2017', I have no idea who Williams is. I'll evaluate whatever you say as if you'd delivered it without a source if you don't explain why the source matters.

"My evidence is more recent so you must prefer it." In certain cases recency is important, but it has to be explained why.

Theory

Theory issues are a check for fairness. Ideally, theory should never come up in a "good" debate, but they do need to exist.

I define theory as arguments that in some way deal with your opponent(s) having violated the structure of what a "good" debate should be. Examples: they are off topic, their delivery is inappropriate, they aren't providing their evidence, etc. Issues that don't have anything to do with the core resolution/motion, but based off how they are dealing with it.

To me, if you run theory you are basically accusing your opponents of cheating/being abusive. This is the most important issue in debate, but one that should only be run if you believe it to be true. If you run a theory argument that is itself abusive (ex: topicality against an obvious topical argument), I will hold it against you.

I would like to be on the email chain: abryerson@gmail.com

Critical Affirmatives: I am semi-open to critical affirmatives that have a relationship to the topic. I have a difficult time voting on an affirmative without a clear relationship to the topic.

Framework/T: Love it, it has my strat against affs that don't read plans for my entire debate career. That being said, I will not vote on T/FW just because it was read. Fairness is an impact. I do not think that reading T/FW is equivalent to any form of violence, nor is saying that it is an argument that I am likely to vote on. I think you need to engage with the nuance of aff arguments, not just read your blocks.

Negative critical arguments: I am willing to vote on critical arguments, as long as it is well explained and has links to the aff. The neg is in a rough position if they only have links to the squo, and no way of resolving their impacts. I am not familiar with all critical arguments so don’t just rely on buzzwords and restating lines of evidence (even if I am familiar with your K, you should explain it to me like you don't). I hate large overviews, I think that it is your job to explain how arguments interact and feel like overviews enable people to avoid engagement.

CPs: Huge fan of counterplans, feel free to run multiple if you would like. The text of the CP should be written out. I am a life long 2N so I think that they neg can get away with a lot. Theory isn't great in front of me, but if you win it I will vote for it.

Disadvantages: Love them. I think that they need to be a full DA (ie; Biden wins now, Trump win would be really bad is not a complete argument.

Topicality: All for it, I feel that it is a very strategic argument to be made in debate. Needs to be well articulated with both sides submitting competing interpretations. T arguments should be extremely structured and organized to make it easier for me to see why this is a voting issue.

Let me know if you have any questions!

(UPDATE FOR 2024 NSDA NATIONALS LD)

I am a parent judge. My child does Circuit LD. Points are given for decorum. Be respectful, be calm during CX, etc.

Please make an email chain with both codes and sides on it and include me at susannayoo2@gmail.com and your competitor!

BIO:

I am a CPA who practices corporate tax. I am socially progressive and fiscally conservative. I appreciate debates centered around what is realistic rather than far fetched possibilities. I will vote based on the quality and integrity of the debate whether I agree or not.

Thank you, and good luck!

TRUTH>TECH

General points:

1. I would enjoy seeing a util debate.
2. Clear and concise speaking and presentation is appreciated.
3. Don't jump back and forth on the flow (BE ORGANIZED), I appreciate it when y'all give road maps and OTR's.
4. Your winning ballot may be based on how well you presented your case whether your case was clear and well understood.
5. My biggest voting issues boil down to whose points make more sense and are more realistic.
6. Feel free to ask me paradigm questions!

CIRCUIT PARADIGM

Pref sheet -
1: Lay
2: LARP
3: Policy Action/Plans etc.
4: Theory
5: Kritiks
S: Anything progressive or tech

General:
Please do not spread, rather be clear and concise. Please conduct yourself with decorum and treat others with respect. Please articulate your arguments succinctly. Give me a clear and concise reason and place to vote. I value organization, and appreciate roadmaps. I am a lay judge and this is my first National Circuit tournament.