Ken Starr
PHOENIX, Ariz. (Legal Newsline) -An attorney best known for his role in the impeachment trial of U.S. President Bill Clinton has been hired by the Arizona state Legislature to defend its position that it spends enough money to teach English learner students.
Attorney Ken Starr could represent state lawmakers before the U.S. Supreme Court to try to convince the high court that lower courts erred in ruling that provisions of a 2006 law aimed at complying with federal education laws are illegal.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not decided whether it will consider the case. It is also unclear who will pay Starr's $910-an-hour fee.
The lawsuit, filed in 1992, charged the state was not providing enough money to help students who speak another language.
Federal District Court Judge Raner Collins ruled that state English-as-a-second-language funding falls short.
The state appealed and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling.
Starr, a former judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and former U.S. solicitor general, was appointed in 1994 to the Office of the Independent Counsel to investigate the death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and Clinton's land deals.
He submitted to Congress the Starr Report, which led to Clinton's impeachment on charges arising from the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.
Starr currently serves as the dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, Calif.
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.