Emergency Motion Asks Supreme Court to Resolve Lawyer Impasse

An emergency motion asks the U.S. Supreme Court to settle a dispute over which lawyer gets to argue an Indian land case next week.

The Supreme Court will consider the motion Friday, report Legal Times and the Providence Journal.

Lawyer Joseph Larisa Jr. says he has handled the case for 10 years and he should get to argue it. He represents the city of Charlestown, R.I., which agrees with him. But the governor and attorney general of Rhode Island say the job should go to former solicitor general Theodore Olson.

The governor would support a split allowing Olson to argue the case for 20 minutes and Larisa to get 10 minutes, Olson told the court. Larisa says he supports that option, according to the Providence Journal. The U.S. Supreme Court had refused an earlier request for a divided argument.

Larisa supports a coin flip to resolve the dispute, but disagrees with the proposal by the governor and attorney general to draw straws among the three parties.

Larisa told Legal Times the Supreme Court needs to step in. "Unless they want the two of us jockeying for position on Nov. 3, someone has to resolve this," he said.