PHOENIX — The Legislature has hired an attorney best known for his role in the impeachment of Bill Clinton to take on its fight over spending more to teach English to those not proficient in the language.
Ken Starr, a key figure in the Clinton impeachment, will try to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that both a trial judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals erred in finding provisions of a 2006 law designed to comply with federal education laws are illegal.
But state school superintendent Tom Horne, who also is challenging the lower-court rulings, hopes to persuade the nation's high court to throw out the entire case. Horne, who has his own legal counsel in the dispute, contends federal courts no longer have jurisdiction.
Whether any of the attorneys actually will be able to make their arguments is unknown. The U.S. Supreme Court has not decided whether to even consider the dispute.
People are also reading…
What also remains undecided is exactly who is paying Starr.
Barrett Marson, spokesman for House Speaker Jim Weiers, said he presumes the Risk Management Division — which is the state's self-insurance fund — will pick up Starr's $910-an- hour fee. But Alan Ecker, a spokesman for the division, said no such contract has been approved, or even requested.
Marson said David Cantelme, who has been representing the Legislature and is being paid by Risk Management, lacks the experience Starr has at the nation's high court.
He said it's irrelevant that Starr's hourly fee is nearly triple the $325 Cantelme is paid.
The English learners lawsuit, filed in 1992, charged the state was not providing enough money to help students who speak another language.
On Thursday, a judge decided to conduct a hearing to determine whether $40.6 million is enough to bring the state into compliance. That comes in response to efforts by plaintiffs attorney Tim Hogan to convince U.S. District Judge Raner Collins in Tucson the state needs to give schools more money.
