Follow-up on Lawyering in the Louisville case

In response to my blog posting about the inadequate brief filed by the petitioner's lawyer in the Louisville voluntary integration case, I received an email yesterday from Professor Sam Marcosson, who teaches at the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. Professor Marosson had the lawyer (Teddy Gordon) as a guest in his constitutional practice seminar earlier in the semester, and the students gingerly asked why he had filed such a short brief. Gordon replied that he read the Supreme Court rules, and they stated that oral argument shouldn't repeat what's in the briefs, so he wanted to "save" his strongest points for oral argument. Oi!

Apparently, Gordon also rejected an offer from Ted Olson to argue the case. I wonder whether he made that decision in consultation with the client. It's hard to imagine the client rejecting such an offer, at least on the assumption that Olson would have been paid by someone else.