Legal News

In Olson v. Larisa, No Other Option Than ?Ted Wins??

By Dan Slater

In the standoff over which Supreme Court advocate will argue an upcoming Indian land case, neither lawyer is backing down.

Behind Carcieri v. Kempthorne, there brews a staring contest between
the seasoned Ted Olson (pictured, right), who was hired by the Rhode Island governor and attorney general to argue the case, and the greener Joseph Larisa (pictured, left), who argued the case through the lower courts and has the backing of the Charlestown, R.I., town council.

Joseph Larisa (Steven Senne)

With the November 3 argument date approaching, the Legal Times catches us up on the competition. Both Olson and Larisa filed argument forms with the court last week, leaving the clerk baffled. On Monday, reports Legal Times, Denise McNerney, the merits cases clerk for the Court, sent both Olson and Larisa an identical letter telling them sternly that “The decision as to which attorney will argue on behalf of the petitioners in this case is now to be made amongst the parties.” McNerney reportedly gave Olson and Larisa until noon on Oct. 30 to tell her who will be arguing.

“They have not suggested any other option other than ‘Ted wins,’” Larisa told Legal Times. “Less than 13 days to go until oral argument and we cannot agree on a simple coin toss. It is the town’s position that the AG and governor are now affirmatively hurting preparation for oral argument.”

Legal Times could not reach Olson for comment.

Law Blog Readers: Let’s play moderator for a moment. Any suggestions for how Olson and Larisa can settle this?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 22, 2008 (boomark / email).