DC Shitcans Parker/Heller Atty

[Ninja]

Looks like the Fenty regime is imploding

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111 one one one one one i^4 i^4 i^4 i^4

DC fires its Heller/Parker attorney
Posted by David Hardy · 2 January 2008 11:26 AM

Prompted by a comment, I found the story in the WashPo.

I don't know quite what to make of it. A guess: the DC Atty General, a friend of the Mayor, wants the argument for himself? That's quite a feather in the cap. A justice on the AZ Supreme Court once told me that Sandy Day O'Connor said Supreme Court argument were on average inferior to those she heard in the AZ Court of Appeals. Reason was that every AG wants to take the argument for himself, and they're politicians, not litigators. In the Court of Apps, she said, she heard underprepared attorneys; in the Supreme Court she heard underprepared politicians, and she'd put her money on the underprepared attorney.

Or perhaps just "a new broom sweeps clean." DC got a new Atty General, the outside counsel was hired by the old AG, so goodbye.

I'd bet Morrison is NOT happy. The brief must be filed Friday, which means it's now in final form and at the printer's (Sup. Ct. briefs have to be printed, as in printing press). So they waited until he got the brief written and then popped it on him. But then this is DC, where backstabbing is normal business.

Update: Legal Times Blog says that DC refuses to give a reason, and that Morrison said he was viewed as too loyal to the former AG. Via the Volokh Conspiracy.

Another update: I don't think DC will move for an extension. First, their brief is due Friday, and has to be printed. It's certainly now at the printers', in finished form. Second, I don't think they would want to talk about why they fired him. It sounds like pure internal politics, and a stab

http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2008/01/dc_fires_its_he_1.php

D.C. Lawyer Preparing to Defend City's Gun Ban Fired

By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 2, 2008; 2:43 PM


Acting D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles has fired the city lawyer who had been preparing to defend the longtime District ban on handguns in the high-stakes Supreme Court case this spring.

Alan B. Morrison, who has argued roughly 20 cases before the high court, was asked to leave his post as special counsel by the end of this week, Morrison said today. Morrison had been hired by former Attorney General Linda Singer, who resigned two weeks ago, and put in charge of arguing the handgun case.

The city has appealed to the Supreme Court to maintain the handgun ban after a lower court overturned the ban in the spring. The high court agreed to hear the case, probably in March, which would mark the first time the Supreme Court has examined a Second Amendment case in nearly 70 years.

Singer cited frustration that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) had relied more heavily on Nickles, who had been his general counsel, to make key legal decisions. Upon Singer's resignation, Fenty replaced her with Nickles, a former high-powered corporate litigator at Covington & Burling and friend of Fenty's family.

Nickles met with Morrison on Dec. 21, but did not tell him that he would be fired, Morrison said. Last week, Nickles asked Deputy Attorney General Eugene A. Adams to inform Morrison of his decision.

"I've been asked to tell you that Peter has decided that he will not be relying on you to make the . . . argument before the Supreme Court," Adams wrote in an e-mail to Morrison, which Morrison provided to The Washington Post. "It's a decision he's been wrestling with since you met with him last week. He thought it only fair that you be informed sooner rather than later."

Morrison had taken an active hand, along with a team of lawyers from the city and two private firms, in writing the 15,000-word brief that is scheduled to be filed with the high court on Friday. It is not clear whom Nickles will select to replace Morrison.

In a statement, Fenty declined to talk about specifics regarding Morrison's firing.

"Peter Nickles' expertise in litigation is going to greatly benefit residents of the District of Columbia in our handgun case pending before the Supreme Court," Fenty said. "It is important that he move quickly to build a team and a strategy to maximize our chances of winning this important case."

David Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown Law School, said Morrison's departure would be a major blow to the D.C. team that has been preparing the case.

"This is a case that requires an unusual amount of preparation because one of the issues comes back to, 'What did those folks who wrote the Bill of Rights really mean when they wrote the Second Amendment,' " said Vladeck, who is friends with Morrison and had been consulting on the case. "In addition to needing a good lawyer and appellate advocate, you need someone who has immersed himself in very complex historical sources. Alan has been doing that for two or three months by now. Whoever takes over this case will start many, many, many laps behind where we ought to be."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/02/AR2008010201116.html?nav=rss_metro

 

[Ninja]

After reading the brief filed by DC today, I'm starting to think Nickles made the right move.

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/petitioners-brief-in-dc-v-heller.pdf

LOL LOL LOL LOL