Theodore Olson
Encyclopedia
Theodore Bevry Olson is a former United States Solicitor General
, serving from June 2001 to July 2004 under President George W. Bush
.
and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area
in Mountain View, California
. He graduated from Los Altos High
in 1958, completed his undergraduate degree at the University of the Pacific, and a law degree at Boalt Hall.
office of the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He then served as an Assistant Attorney General
(Office of Legal Counsel) in the Reagan administration
before returning to private practice as a partner in the Washington, D.C.
office of his former law firm. While serving in the Reagan administration, Olson defended President Reagan during the Iran-Contra affair.
Olson represented convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard
while he was in private practice. In Pollard's appeal to United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Olson argued the life sentence Pollard received was in violation of the plea bargain
agreement, which had specifically excluded a life sentence. Olson also argued that the violation of the plea bargain was grounds for a mistrial. The Court of Appeals ruled (2-1) that no grounds for mistrial existed.
Olson argued a dozen cases before the Supreme Court prior to becoming Solicitor General; In one case, he argued against federal sentencing guidelines, and in a case in New York state, he defended a member of the press who had first leaked the Anita Hill
story. Olson successfully represented presidential candidate George W. Bush
in the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore
, which effectively ended the recount of the contested 2000 Presidential election.
Olson was nominated for the office of Solicitor General by President Bush
on February 14, 2001, was confirmed by the United States Senate
on May 24, 2001, and took office on June 11, 2001. In July 2004, Olson retired as Solicitor General and returned to private practice at the Washington office of Gibson Dunn.
In 2006, Olson represented a defendant journalist in the civil case filed by Wen Ho Lee
and pursued the appeal to the Supreme Court. Lee sued the federal government to discover which public officials had named him as a suspect to journalists before he had been charged. Olson wrote a brief on behalf of one of the journalists involved in the case, saying that journalists should not have to identify confidential sources over to the court, even if subpoena
ed.
In 2009, Olson joined with David Boies
, his adversary in Bush v. Gore, to bring a federal lawsuit Perry v. Schwarzenegger
challenging Proposition 8
, a California state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage
. His work on the lawsuit earned him a place among the Time 100
's greatest thinkers. In 2011, Olson and David Boies were awarded the ABA Medal, the highest award of the American Bar Association
.
, was a passenger on the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77
that crashed into the Pentagon
on September 11, 2001
. The following year Olson met Lady Booth, a tax attorney and native of Kentucky, and the two were married on October 21, 2006, in Napa County, California
.
. He has served on the board of directors of American Spectator magazine. Olson was a prominent critic of Bill Clinton
's presidency, and he helped prepare the attorneys of Paula Jones
prior to their Supreme Court appearance. Olson's wife, Lady, has described herself as a lifelong registered Democrat. She has contributed to the campaigns of Barack Obama
and Rudy Giuliani
. Olson served Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign
as judicial committee chairman.
Olson believes there is a constitutional right for same-sex marriage.
Judge John Roberts, Olson was considered a potential nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States
to fill Sandra Day O'Connor
's post. Following the withdrawal of Harriet Miers
' nomination for that post, and prior to the nomination of Third Circuit Court of Appeals
Judge Samuel Alito
, Olson's name was again mentioned as a possible nominee.
In September 2007, Olson was considered by the Bush administration
for the post of Attorney General to succeed Alberto Gonzales
. However, the Democratic response was so strongly negative that Bush chose to nominate Michael Mukasey instead.
United States Solicitor General
The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
, serving from June 2001 to July 2004 under President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.
Early life
Theodore Olson was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
in Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
. He graduated from Los Altos High
Los Altos High School (Los Altos, California)
Los Altos High School, established in 1954, is a public school located in the affluent Silicon Valley suburb of Los Altos, California. It has generally demonstrated a high level of academic achievement...
in 1958, completed his undergraduate degree at the University of the Pacific, and a law degree at Boalt Hall.
Legal career
Olson practiced law first as an associate and then as a partner in the Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
office of the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He then served as an Assistant Attorney General
United States Assistant Attorney General
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General.The President of the United States appoints individuals to the position of Assistant Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate...
(Office of Legal Counsel) in the Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
before returning to private practice as a partner in the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
office of his former law firm. While serving in the Reagan administration, Olson defended President Reagan during the Iran-Contra affair.
Olson represented convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard
Jonathan Pollard
Jonathan Jay Pollard worked as a civilian intelligence analyst before being convicted of spying for Israel. He received a life sentence in 1987....
while he was in private practice. In Pollard's appeal to United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Olson argued the life sentence Pollard received was in violation of the plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
agreement, which had specifically excluded a life sentence. Olson also argued that the violation of the plea bargain was grounds for a mistrial. The Court of Appeals ruled (2-1) that no grounds for mistrial existed.
Anita Hill
Anita Faye Hill is an American attorney and academic—presently a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she alleged that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had...
story. Olson successfully represented presidential candidate George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore, , is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v...
, which effectively ended the recount of the contested 2000 Presidential election.
Olson was nominated for the office of Solicitor General by President Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
on February 14, 2001, was confirmed by the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on May 24, 2001, and took office on June 11, 2001. In July 2004, Olson retired as Solicitor General and returned to private practice at the Washington office of Gibson Dunn.
In 2006, Olson represented a defendant journalist in the civil case filed by Wen Ho Lee
Wen Ho Lee
Dr. Wen Ho Lee is a Taiwan-born Taiwanese American scientist who worked for the University of California at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He created simulations of nuclear explosions for the purposes of scientific inquiry, as well as for improving the safety and reliability of the US nuclear...
and pursued the appeal to the Supreme Court. Lee sued the federal government to discover which public officials had named him as a suspect to journalists before he had been charged. Olson wrote a brief on behalf of one of the journalists involved in the case, saying that journalists should not have to identify confidential sources over to the court, even if subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
ed.
In 2009, Olson joined with David Boies
David Boies
David Boies is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. He has been involved in various high-profile cases in the United States.-Early life and education:...
, his adversary in Bush v. Gore, to bring a federal lawsuit Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Perry v. Schwarzenegger
Perry v. Schwarzenegger is a federal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the federal constitutionality of Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative that amended the California Constitution to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples,...
challenging Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (2008)
Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections...
, a California state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. His work on the lawsuit earned him a place among the Time 100
Time 100
Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.-History and format:...
's greatest thinkers. In 2011, Olson and David Boies were awarded the ABA Medal, the highest award of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
.
Personal life
Olson has been married four times. Olson's third wife, Barbara OlsonBarbara Olson
Barbara Olson was a lawyer and conservative American television commentator who worked for CNN, Fox News Channel, and several other outlets...
, was a passenger on the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
that crashed into the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
on September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. The following year Olson met Lady Booth, a tax attorney and native of Kentucky, and the two were married on October 21, 2006, in Napa County, California
Napa County, California
Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....
.
Politics
Olson was present at the first meeting of the Federalist SocietyFederalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called simply the Federalist Society, is an organization of conservatives seeking reform of the current American legal system in accordance with a textualist and/or originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution...
. He has served on the board of directors of American Spectator magazine. Olson was a prominent critic of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's presidency, and he helped prepare the attorneys of Paula Jones
Paula Jones
Paula Corbin Jones is a former Arkansas state employee who sued U.S. President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. The lawsuit was dismissed before trial on the grounds that Jones failed to demonstrate any damages...
prior to their Supreme Court appearance. Olson's wife, Lady, has described herself as a lifelong registered Democrat. She has contributed to the campaigns of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
. Olson served Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign
Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign, 2008
Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign began following the formation of the Draft Giuliani movement in October 2005. The next year, Giuliani opened an exploratory committee and formally announced in February 2007 that he was actively seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican...
as judicial committee chairman.
Olson believes there is a constitutional right for same-sex marriage.
Executive appointment speculation
Prior to President Bush's nomination of D.C. Circuit Court of AppealsUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
Judge John Roberts, Olson was considered a potential nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States
Bush Supreme Court candidates
Speculation abounded over potential nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States by President George W. Bush since before his presidency....
to fill Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
's post. Following the withdrawal of Harriet Miers
Harriet Miers
Harriet Ellan Miers is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel. In 2005, she was nominated by President George W. Bush to be an Associate Justice of the U.S...
' nomination for that post, and prior to the nomination of Third Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:* District of Delaware* District of New Jersey...
Judge Samuel Alito
Samuel Alito
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....
, Olson's name was again mentioned as a possible nominee.
In September 2007, Olson was considered by the Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
for the post of Attorney General to succeed Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
. However, the Democratic response was so strongly negative that Bush chose to nominate Michael Mukasey instead.