Lawrence will be disproportionately represented Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition to the two Lawrence attorneys who will appear that day before the court in a case arguing that the state’s death penalty is unconstitutional, Lawrence High School graduate Kannon Shanmugam will be arguing a different case just minutes before them. His case also involves the death penalty.

“It’s just a tremendous honor to argue in the Supreme Court, and particularly to represent the United States in the Supreme Court,” said Shanmugam, 33, an assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General who graduated from Lawrence High School in 1989. “It’s kind of an out-of-body experience because it’s just so exciting to get to do it.”

Shanmugam will be arguing on behalf of the United States in the case of Oregon v. Guzek. The case involves the question of whether defendants convicted of capital murder have the right to argue and put on evidence that they should not be put to death because of “residual doubt” about their guilt.

Last year Washingtonian magazine named LHS graduate Kannon Shanmugam one of the fastest-rising legal

The Oregon Supreme Court found defendants have that right. Shanmugam will argue they don’t.

Shanmugam said he planned to stick around after his argument to hear a case involving Kansas’ death penalty. Lawrence resident Rebecca Woodman, a state capital appellate defender, will argue that Kansas’ law is unconstitutional because of how it requires jurors to weigh evidence before sentencing.

She will be accompanied by Lawrence resident Janine Cox, another attorney in the Capital Appellate Defender’s Office.

It will be Woodman and Cox’s first appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court. Shanmugam has been there once before. About a year ago, he argued a Fourth Amendment case that was decided unanimously in his favor.

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Shanmugam has bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University and a master’s degree in classics from Oxford University. Last year Washingtonian magazine named him one of the fastest-rising “legal stars” in Washington, D.C.