Clerk’s Message Spurs Lawyer to Abandon Fight to Argue Supreme Court Case
A Rhode Island lawyer has given up his battle to argue an Indian land case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lawyer Joseph Larisa Jr. had tussled with Rhode Island officials over which lawyer should represent them in the case. Today he agreed to let former solicitor general Theodore Olson handle the arguments after an unusual phone call today by Supreme Court clerk William Suter, SCOTUSblog reports. “He said the court gave us one hour to decide, or all argument time would be forfeited,” Larisa told the blog. Larisa will be seated as co-counsel when the case is argued Monday.
Larisa, who represents the city of Charlestown, had previously said he should get to argue the case because he had handled it for 10 years. The governor and attorney general of Rhode Island said the job should go to Olson, who was hired for $200,000.
The dispute turned into a war of words when state attorney general spokesman Michael Healey said the controversy was due to “Joe Larisa’s ego, which is astounding” and accused the lawyer of acting like an “oppositional, defiant toddler.”
Earlier today the Supreme Court denied a new motion to divide argument time between the lawyers, SCOTUSblog said.
