Legal News

Harriet Miers Knocking on the High Court?s Door Once Again

By Ashby Jones

We often wonder — really! we do! — what it must be for Robert Bork or Harriet Miers when they disapprove of something the Supreme Court does. (”If only I were on the Court, I would have pulled a few votes to my side and changed the course of U.S. history.”) Bob? Harriet? Are you out there? Are you plagued? Do you often dream of one-upping Justice Scalia in conference or talking down Walter Dellinger at oral argument only to wake up shaking your fist at your fate and the world?

Frankly, yeah, it’s probably not that bad. But it is probably a little strange to go back to private practice and have to beg the Court — just like the rest of us — to take your case.

And that’s what Miers is currently in the midst of doing. Click here for the story, from the BLT blog.

Miers filed a cert petition on May 22 in a dispute over, as the BLT describes it “whether state and local governments have authority to tax natural gas that is held temporarily in storage in an interstate pipeline system.” The Court hasn’t ruled on the petition, but earlier this month, the Court called for a response from opposing counsel, which likely indicates the Court has some interest in the petition.

Miers plies her trade these days at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, which she rejoined in 2007 and rejoined Locke Lord. Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, she co-managed the firm. Miers did not return the BLT’s requests for comment.

Like most lawsuits that find themselves presented to the Supreme Court, this one is interesting.

Miers’s client, Missouri Gas Energy, is challenging taxes that officials in Wood County, Oklahoma, levied on natural gas in an underground storage facility. MGE sells gas to customers in Missouri, but not Oklahoma. Miers said in the petition that it is impossible to determine the ownership gas in an interstate pipeline, therefore the tax was improper.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld the tax in an opinion last year. In her petition for certiorari, Miers said there is "widening disagreement and confusion" regarding the constitutional limitations on state and local taxes of natural gas that is held in storage in an interstate pipeline system. The Court has called for a response that is due Sept 3.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 19, 2009 (boomark / email).