January 03, 2008

Will Personnel Shuffle Harm D.C. Gun Ban Case?

The lawyer who took the lead role in preparing the District's appeal on its handgun ban was fired just one week before the brief he helped prepare is due to be filed to the Supreme Court.

The Washington Post reported on its Web site yesterday that city lawyer Alan Morrison had been fired for, he suggested to the paper, political reasons. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case as early as March, and its interpretation of whether the Second Amendment guarantees the right to possess handguns could have ripple effects in crime-ridden cities across the country.

In this morning's edition, at-large D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson complained to the Post that the mid-stream firing was "like committing hari-kari." Mendelson also said he had only heard positive things about Morrison's work.

The high court has agreed to interpret, for the first time ever, a confusing clause in the Second Amendment. The justices are expected to clarify whether the amendment applies to individuals as well as militias, along with how much wiggle room states and municipalities have in regulating gun ownership.

Morrison was a bit more direct about the circumstances of his firing in an interview with the Legal Times' BLT blog yesterday. He said acting Attorney General Peter Nickles did not explain why Morrison was being let go, "but I assume it is because I was seen as a Linda loyalist." Nickles, who is Mayor Adrian Fenty's general counsel, is taking over for D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer after her last day on the job this Saturday. Singer announced her resignation last month because Fenty was relying more heavily on Nickles' advice, according to reports.

Morrison is a well-respected litigator who has argued more than a dozen cases before the Supreme Court. Today, Nickles told BLT that he was considering Walter Dellinger III and Thomas Goldstein, both veteran high court litigators, to assume oral argument duties.

Nickles expressed confidence that the personnel shakeup would not harm the District's case.

"We've got the horsepower, and we will put it to work," Nickles told BLT. "This is not a one-person effort, and these are very experienced people who were intimately involved in writing the briefs."

Posted at 12:12 PM
Posted to: Constitution, Supreme Court
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