Walter Dellinger on the case

Former acting solicitor general Walter Dellinger III has a busy 2008 ahead of him. D.C. officials this morning confirmed that he will replace Alan Morrison as the oral advocate for the city's defense of its gun control ordinance in D.C. V. Heller before the Supreme Court. The argument will likely take place in late March, though the actual date has not yet been set.

We caught up with Dellinger, who heads the appellate practice at O'Melveny & Myers in D.C., just before the announcement this morning. Dellinger said he already is preparing for two Supreme Court arguments in February: Morgan Stanley Capital Group v. Publlic Utility District 1, an energy regulation case set for Feb. 19, and the higher-profile Exxon Valdez punitive damages case, Exxon Shipping Co. v, Baker, on Feb. 27. He'll argue for the appellant in both cases. "I'm hoping for four weeks to prepare after that."

But Dellinger, who is taking on the gun rights argument on a pro bono basis, notes he is not a newcomer to the gun case. He helped Morrison, who was fired this week, on the city's brief that is being filed later today. "I've spent a lot of personal time on this already," Dellinger says, having written a lengthy memorandum on the Second Amendment issue in the case for the city before the case was granted.

Dellinger says a six-lawyer team from O'Melveny was already working on the case, and he will be aided as well by Thomas Goldstein of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, who also worked on the brief, and Robert Long of Covington & Burling, the firm where D.C. General counsel Peter Nickles used to work. Nickles, who becomes D.C.'s acting attorney general Jan. 6, fired Morrison from his job as special counsel Wednesday for unexplained reasons. Morrison is a veteran high court advocate who used to head Public Citizen Litigation Group.

"This is not something I sought or expected," Dellinger says, but he agreed to Nickles' offer, first made to him on Wednesday night, to help the city. Dellinger had never met Nickles before and says he does not know why Morrison was fired. "Alan is a truly exceptional lawyer," says Dellinger, adding that he hopes to "reach out" to Morrison for his insights on the case as he prepares for oral argument.