An attorney for Thomas M. Finneran sparred with a state lawyer Thursday before the state’s highest court, which is considering whether the disgraced former House speaker should get his pension back following a federal obstruction of justice conviction.

During oral arguments, the attorneys debated how closely Finneran’s crime was connected to his job leading the state legislative chamber.

A Boston court ruled last year that Finneran was not acting in a public capacity when he testified in a civil suit challenging a 2001 House redistricting plan, and the court reinstated his pension retroactive to 2012. That ruling overturned the State Board of Retirement’s decision that he had testified in his role as speaker. The state is appealing the ruling.

Finneran pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count of obstruction of justice based on his 2003 testimony in which he falsely denied he was involved in or made decisions about the redistricting plan.

Nicholas Poser, Finneran’s attorney, told the justices that the testimony was not part of Finneran’s job.

“There is nothing . . . that implies that you have to go testify about the crafting of a statute,’’ he said. “It is the furthest thing from the duties of the speaker.’’

But Assistant Attorney General David R. Marks, who works with the retirement board, said there were many connections to Finneran’s role as speaker, which he held from 1996 to 2004.

“In defense of a law that he was involved in developing and enacting, he testified . . . based on his own knowledge about what happened in the course of enacting that law,’’ Marks said.

He argued that Finneran had an interest in battling the implication in the lawsuit that there might have been a racial element to the redistricting.

“This was important to him as a person who might seek reelection from his own district,’’ Marks said.

After Finneran’s conviction, a federal judge sentenced him to 18 months of unsupervised probation and ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine. In 2012, the retirement board stripped him of his pension, a penalty that Marks estimated at $500,000.

A judge in Dorchester Municipal Court reversed that decision in 2015, ordering the pension reinstated retroactive to 2012.

“There is no substantial evidence to support the board’s conclusion that Finneran’s conviction bore a direct factual link to his position as a House member and/or speaker,’’ the judge, Serge Georges Jr., wrote at the time.

Andy Rosen can be reached at andrew.rosen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andyrosen.