PORTLAND — Celebrity lawyer F. Lee Bailey meets all the requirements to practice law in Maine if he can resolve his tax debt with the federal government.

Supreme Court Justice Donald Alexander rejected Bailey’s request to practice law because the federal government says he owes nearly $2 million in back taxes. But Alexander, in his April 18 decision, left the door open for Bailey to revisit the issue if he can resolve the tax dispute.

The 79-year-old Bailey passed the Maine bar in November.

Bailey, whose high-profile clients have included O.J. Simpson and Patty Hearst, was previously licensed in Massachusetts and Florida but was disbarred in those states for mishandling $6 million worth of stock for a client. He has lived in Yarmouth, Maine, since 2010.