Lawyers for the District of Columbia are fighting a request from a private attorney who wants more than $3.12 million in fees for successfully challenging the city’s handgun ban. The attorney, Alan Gura, who argued and won D.C. v

In a case closely watched by civil rights and public interest groups, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that under federal fee-shifting statutes, judges may award fees that go above the “lodestar” amount under rare circumstances, including superior performance by the attorneys. The ruling came in Perdue v. Kenny A, involving a $4.5 million fee enhancement that Georgia was required to pay lawyers who brought and won a class action suit challenging the state’s foster care system.