Lawyers for same-sex marriage plea named

Under gentle pressure from the Supreme Court not to split up the argument on single questions, the legal teams supporting same-sex marriage have settled on one lawyer to present each issue. The teams thus have abandoned their earlier request to let four lawyers appear on their side — along with a federal government lawyer — at the April 28 hearing.

After apparently lengthy bargaining, the same-sex marriage side has decided thatlong-time gay rights advocate Mary L. Bonauto will arguethe first question: whether thestates are required to grant equal marriage rights to same-sexcouples. An experienced Washington, D.C., advocate, Douglas-Hallward-Driemeier, will handle the second question: canstates be required to recognize existing same-sex marriages performed in other states for residents of a state that bans such unions?

The Court has scheduled two-and-a-half-hours of oral argument on the four granted cases. Ninety minutes of that time will be devoted to the marriage question, and one hour to the recognition issue.

The plaintiffs in the case proposed to the Court that their side of the marriage question be divided, with the couples’ lawyer having thirty minutes and the lawyer from the government — probably Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. — fifteen minutes.

The states defending their bans on same-sex marriage or recognition had announced last month that they will be representedby former Michigan Solicitor General John J. Bursch arguing the marriage questionand an associate solicitor general for Tennessee, Joseph L. Whalen, on the recognition issue.