Kirby,+William

Current Debater at New Trier High School (2N) Short Version: I will do my best to leave my predispositions at the door, what is most important is that you arguments have a claim, a warrant, and an implication, you flow, you are clear, and you act like you genuinely want to be debating. The team that does a better job of framing the ballot in the final rebuttal will probably win. I am largely in the tech over truth camp, and believe that an argument is only stupid if the other team is able to refute it (that being said, poor strategies will negatively affect your speaks).

Preferred 2NRs in descending order (this is more indicative of me as a debater than me as a judge, the last thing you should do is change your strategy because of me):
 * 1) Topicality
 * 2) Non-Process CP and Net Benefit
 * 3) Impact Turns
 * 4) Politics (or other DA) and case
 * 5) Kritiks
 * 6) Process CPs
 * 7) Nonsense (wipeout, ashtar, sacred cow)

My goal is to put as much effort into the round as you put into the debate. Have fun and hopefully I will too.

Long Version: Topicality: Favorite 2NR has a debater, I tend default to competing interpretations and I’m not very persuaded by reasonability, but that all comes down to how it’s debated in the round. T is not an RVI. It would be difficult to convince me that limits are genocide. Spec arguments are stupid.

Kritikal Affs: While I almost exclusively go for FW against these sorts of affs, I will do my best to judge this as impartially as possible. Neg teams will be most successful if they explain their impacts in the context of the affirmative, and aff teams should couch their impact turns in reasons their aff is good, not why the resolution is bad. I have found that blanket statements (i.e. the resolution is always X, the USfg is always X) are very unpersuasive to me, especially in the abstract. Teams that explain why USfg actions in the context of the resolution will always be X, however, are very important. T version of the aff is often the most important argument in these debates, if the aff team loses T version of the aff it is hard to see myself voting aff.

Kritiks: I am not a huge fan of the kritik, but I understand the strategic utility of them. Teams should contextualize their links to the aff. K tricks are stupid but if the aff drops them they can be problematic. If the negative is making the K into a floating PIK they should be pretty explicit about it, because I am sympathetic to aff teams when the negative refuses to described how their alt works and then suddenly it’s a Floating PIK in the 2NR.

Counterplans: For me, theory often comes down to questions of competition, and solvency deficits need to be clearly impacted. Solvency deficits based on things like certainty only matter if you impact certainty in the context of your advantages. I will assume that everything is a NB to the CP and/or the CP solves all aff advantages unless an argument in the debate is made otherwise. My specific theoretical leanings are outlined below. Aff Leaning: 50 State Fiat, Consult/Conditions CPs, Agent CPs that use the USfg (XO/Courts), Object Fiat, Multi-Actor Fiat, Private Sector Fiat, all other Process based CPs Neg Leaning: Other Agent CPs, Advantage CPs, International Fiat, Conditionality, No Solvency Advocate Undecided: PICs (these really come down to competition).

DAs: In the words of AJ Watkins: “I LOVE POLITICS. Politics is your friend. Politics was my friend!”. I love DAs. I don’t love DAs that are predicated off of spending/funding quite as much, but if you can explain the story well more power to you. Do impact calc. Turns case analysis is important, but presupposes that you have won the thesis of the DA. I will assign zero risk if a team wins it.

Speaks: I assign speaks after a debater has given both of their speeches. As a result, I may give more low-point wins than other judges. Be clear, confident, and not an asshole if you want to get good speaks in front of me. Jokes are always helpful, but make sure they don’t cross a line. (If you aren’t sure who to make a joke about, Zane Dille, Faith Geraghty, or AJ Byrne are good places to start).