Supreme Court Justices have a challenge in deciding who will argue what, when and for how long in the five consolidated cases involving a constitutional challenge to the board created to oversee Puerto Rico's massive debt restructuring, according to a Law.com commentary. The financial stakes are enormous and, not surprisingly, the parties have turned to some of the Supreme Court bar's most recognizable advocates: former U.S. solicitors general Donald Verrilli Jr. of Munger, Tolles & Olson, and Theodore Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; former acting Solicitors General Walter Dellinger of O'Melveny & Myers and Ian Gershengorn of Jenner & Block, among others. The consolidated cases are set for argument on Oct. 15. The justices have three motions for divided arguments that offer them various ways of handling what are essentially two issues: Does the Constitution's appointments clause apply to the appointment of members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico and does the de facto officer doctrine validate previous acts by the board if there was a violation of the appointments clause. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said selection of the board's members violated the appointments clause. The court applied the de facto officer doctrine to preserve the board's prior decisions.
