​In a rare move, the Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court for permission to argue directly in front of the Justices when the Aereo case is heard next month, even though the federal government isn’t a party in the case.

Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Edwin S. Kneedler told the Justices in a filing Thursday that the broadcasters suing Aereo have agreed to cede the federal government 10 minutes of their time during oral arguments set for April 22.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department and the U.S. Copyright Office co-authored a Friend of the Court brief, meaning that two branches of the federal government are siding with the broadcasters as they gear up for their argument in front of the third branch. The copyright office is an arm of the Library of Congress, part of the legislative branch.

Each of the Big Four networks have sued to put a stop to Aereo, which rents out a small antenna to users that transmits broadcast television to multiple devices such as smartphones.

Ther broadcasters say the IAC-backed startup is illegally retransmitting television; Aereo says it is simply renting remote antennas.

The specific question before the High Court is “whether a company ‘publicly performs’ a copyrighted television program when it retransmits a broadcast of that program to thousands of paid subscribers over the Internet.”

“Because the Court’s decision in this case will likely address important questions about the scope of the public-performance right in the context of novel technologies for transmitting and viewing copyrighted audiovisual works using the Internet, the United States has a substantial interest in presenting its views on the question presented,” Kneedler wrote Thursday.

A decision is expected from the Supreme Court in June.

Brief Take: The Obama Administration’s request to participate directly in the oral arguments underscores the importance of the Aereo case to the industry and the government.

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