Former U.S. solicitor general to represent Ga. in water war case

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general, will lead an appeal by Georgia and the Atlanta Regional Commission in the tri-state water war case, a spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue said Thursday.

Clement heads Atlanta law firm King & Spalding's appellate division in Washington. From June 2005 through June 2008, Clement served as Solicitor General, whose job is to oversee all government litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has argued more than four dozen cases before the nation's highest court.

Georgia and the ARC, among others, are appealing a July ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson who found it was illegal for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw water from Lake Lanier to meet the needs of 3.5 million metro residents. McKenna Long & Aldridge, which has long represented Georgia in the case, will remain lead counsel in other phases of the litigation, Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said.