Olson

Governor Carcieri has enlisted the man who successfully argued the case that put George W. Bush in the White House to help the state in its fight to keep control of 31 acres owned by the Narragansett Indian Tribe.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson will join Assistant Attorney General Neil F.X. Kelly and Claire J.V. Richards, Carcieri’s former deputy legal counsel, in arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Indian land case this fall, according to a U.S. Supreme Court docket. Joseph S. Larisa Jr. will represent the Town of Charlestown as its solicitor on Indian affairs.

Olson served as the government’s top lawyer before the high court from 2001 to 2004 under President George W. Bush.

Before that, as an appellate lawyer, he won the case that settled the disputed 2000 election in Bush’s favor. He represented President Ronald Reagan during the Iran-Contra affair as assistant attorney general.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in February to decide whether the Department of Interior can take 31 acres just north of Route 1 into trust on behalf of the Narragansett Indians. Trust status would remove the land from most state and local laws, placing it under tribal and federal control.

The tribe bought the land in 1991 for development of housing for its elderly. The state filed suit against the Interior Department after the federal agency agreed to take the land into trust for the tribe in 1998.

The parcel is across Kings Factory Road from the 1,800 acres that Congress granted to the Narragansetts in a landmark land-claims settlement law 30 years ago.

Lawyers have argued the case could have big implications for Indian land disputes across the country. Sixteen states from New England to Alaska joined Rhode Island in appealing a decision by the federal appellate court in Boston that favored the Narragansetts.

“They can hire who they want,” Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas said yesterday. “Hopefully the U.S. Department of Justice will continue to defend the rights of the secretary of interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes. They’ve been doing it for a couple of hundred years. Hopefully, the law will speak for itself.”

Carcieri hired Olson as lead lawyer for his office shortly after the high court agreed to hear the case, the governor’s spokesman, Jeff Neal, said. Olson will be paid a flat $200,000 from the governor’s contingency account, Neal said. The account, which Carcieri has the discretion to spend as he sees fit once the money is appropriated by the General Assembly, has about $100,000 remaining in it that will pay Olson’s first installment. The rest will come in the next fiscal year, Neal said.

“Governor Carcieri believes that given the importance of this case to the people of Rhode Island it was appropriate to retain a lawyer with a wealth of experience working in the Supreme Court,” Neal said.

Olson has argued more than 50 high court cases, including several that involved Indian lands, Neal said. His biography on the firm’s Web site says his practice with the Washington, D.C., firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher focuses on appellate and constitutional law, federal legislation and media and commercial disputes, among other issues.

Asked about the expense of hiring such high-profile counsel given the projected $425-million state deficit, Neal responded, “From the governor’s point of view, regardless of the current state of the budget, we do not allow permanent changes to state sovereignty.”

“The amount of money the state is investing in this case pales in comparison to the amount of money the state could lose in tax revenue in years to come if we are not successful,” Neal said.

Some state officials fear the appeals ruling, if allowed to stand, would clear the way for the tribe to open a casino or other venture outside state oversight.

But Olson’s hiring appears to be a point of contention in some corners.

“There was a bit of disagreement on that hiring,” Larisa said. “Some of us felt the Larisa, Richards, Kelly team was more than capable on its own. That was the governor’s call.”

Michael J. Healey, spokesman for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, said Lynch “thinks Ted Olson is a great talent, but he comes with a price and that’s something the governor must have weighed given Rhode Island’s budget picture.”

Olson did not return a phone call placed to his office yesterday. Olson’s late wife, conservative political commentator Barbara K. Olson, was a passenger on the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 that was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Justice Department is representing the Interior Department.

kmulvane@projo.com