David Handschuh/NYLJ

This year is the 20th anniversary of the competition, in which about 1,000 students from 31 schools participated.

Sotomayor, who grew up in the Bronx, presided over arguments by a team of eighth-grade students.

David Handschuh/NYLJ

Middle School students from the New York City area cheer for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, right, who attended the Thurgood Marshall Junior Mock Trial Competition Friday at the Bronx County Courthouse.