Student Congress (also Congressional Debate) is a form of high school debate and a National Forensic League event. In Student Congress, high school students imitate the United States Congress by debating bills and resolutions.

Student Congress Procedure

Typically, a tournament will publish a list of bills and resolutions (Some of which may be written and submitted by the speakers themselves) before it occurs. This is done so that the speakers may research the topics and prepare material to use during the delivery of the speech, although performing a speech entirely prepared and memorized before the tournament ("Canned") is highly discouraged, as speeches should be dynamic and responsive to the course of the debate.

Rules and practices for Student Congress vary from tournament to tournament. As the California High School Speech Association practices the event, the bill(s) to be debated in each round is/are announced before the round begins and the speakers (Commonly referred to as "Senators") are divided into separate Houses of roughly fifteen to separately debate the bills. Each House has a Presiding Officer to enforce parliamentary procedure and record each speaker's number of questions and attempts to speak. Also present are typically one, two, or three judges (In the cases of a preliminary, semi-final and final round, respectively) who rank the speakers on ballots. The round begins with a motion to open the House and then a motion to begin debate on the posted bill, or to choose one of multiple bills to begin with if more than one are posted. The bill is typically formally read ("authored") and the Presiding Officer announces that a speech in the Proponency of the bill is now in order.

At this point, the speakers must compete for floor time. In the first preliminary round, as well as the semi-final and final rounds, each speaker is issued a set of priority cards, typically one through five or one through six depending on the number of rounds and bills. Speakers wishing to speak on the side of the bill (Proponency or Opponency) currently in order hold up their lowest number priority card to indicate the desire to speak. Lower numbers have priority over higher numbers, and in case of tied numbers, priority is given to the speaker who has unsuccessfully attempted to speak the most times or asked the most questions. In cases of an absolute tie, speakers are asked to yield or participate in a coin toss or quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The speaker who wins the floor surrenders their lowest number priority card to the Presiding Officer. A speaker who has exhaused the supply of priority cards may only speak if no other speakers contest said speaker for the floor.

Once the floor is awarded to a speaker, a three minute maximum speech is given. The first speech is always in the Proponency of the bill, and alternated with a speech in the Opponency of the bill. It is typical but not required for a speaker to begin with a formal address to the House ("Honorable Judge(s), Presiding Officer, and Fellow Senators...") After completing the speech, the speaker usually indicates its end with a variant of "I will now stand for questions, cross-examination, and points of clarification." At this point, the House has one minute to ask questions of the speaker with the floor. The Presiding Officer establishes a method by which speakers shall indicate desire to ask a question (typically raising of the hand or standing) and then recognizes speakers based on the number of questions asked (speakers with fewer questions have first opportunity to ask a question.) Typically, questions will attempt to expose faults in the speech just given, but often speakers planning to speak or having spoken on the same side of the bill as the Senator currently holding the floor will ask him or her to agree with a statement pertaining to the relevant side of the argument ("Senator, do you agree that...") Questions, and their respective answers, are to be short and to the point, as delays will unfairly cut into other speakers' question time.

A pair of one Proponency and one Opponency speech in that order is considered a cycle. In between cycles, time is given for speakers to introduce motions onto the floor. In most tournaments, the Presiding Officer has a large amount of discretion to exercise over whether or not to rule motions in order, but at high level competitions, such as CHSSA State Qualifiers, the Presiding Officer is meant to be a strict procedurist; that is, the P.O. should simply follow through with any motions introduced. Common motions include Points of Personal Privilege, (typically used to allow a speaker to adjust something for personal comfort,) Motions to Table the Current Question, (Used when multiple bills are up for debate in a given round) and Motions to Call the Previous Question (End debate on the current bill and call a vote on the bill itself.) Note that because a Motion to Call the Previous Question ends the debate immediately if passed, it is typically considered bad form to make such a motion before all speakers have had time on the floor. Some tournaments establish a minimum time before the Previous Question can be called, and when possible, Judges and Presiding Officers often rule the Previous Question out of order before all speakers have had a chance at the floor.

After the Previous Question has been called and the bill or bills voted on, the Presiding Officer announces whether or not a two-thirds vote has been reached, which is required to pass any bill. This is merely a formality, as well as an explicit signal of the end of the round. The Presiding Officer calls for a Motion to Adjourn, which is motioned and passed. The speakers exit, and the judges rank the speakers in order of preference based on criteria such as Reasoning, Evidence, Performance, and Clash.

Student Congress tournaments