Theodore Olson

Theodore Olson
42nd Solicitor General of the United States
In office
June 11, 2001 – July 14, 2004
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded bySeth P. Waxman
Succeeded byPaul Clement
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel
In office
1981–1984
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byJohn Harmon
Succeeded byCharles Cooper
Personal details
Born
Theodore Bevry Olson

(1940-09-11)September 11, 1940
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedNovember 13, 2024(2024-11-13) (aged 84)
Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Karen Beatie
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1987)​
Jolie Bales
​
​
(m. 1989; div. 1991)​
​
​
(m. 1996; her death 2001)​
Lady Evelyn Booth
​
(m. 2006)​
EducationUniversity of the Pacific
UC Berkeley School of Law

Theodore Bevry Olson (September 11, 1940 – November 13, 2024) was an American lawyer. Olson served as United States Solicitor General under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2004. He was known for defending same sex marriage and undocumented immigrant children during his legal career. Some of the cases he defended were for liberal causes, despite being a Republican.

In March 2018, Olson turned down an offer to represent Donald Trump in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

Olson's third wife, Barbara Kay Olson (née Bracher), an attorney and conservative commentator, was a passenger on the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. She planned to leave to California on after celebrating Olson's birthday

Olson died at a hospital from a stroke in Falls Church, Virginia, on November 13, 2024, at the age of 84.

References

  1. ↑ Lewis, Neil A. (February 15, 2001). "Man in the News: Prize Job for a Bush Rescuer, Theodore Bevry Olson". The New York Times.
  2. 1 2 3 "Theodore B. Olson, Conservative Lawyer Who Took Up Liberal Causes, Dies at 84". The New York Times. November 13, 2024. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  3. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-legal-team-seeks-to-add-gravitas-with-offer-to-star-gop-attorney-theodore-b-olson/2018/03/20/571f1e46-2c41-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html
  4. ↑ "What Barbara Olson Knew" (YouTube). CNN. April 7, 2008.
  5. ↑ drjamesfetzer (January 4, 2010). "Pentagon Explosion, No Flight 77: TED OLSON on Barbara: "Its impossible to think of her as Gone"" – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ Wolfson, Andrew (November 13, 2024). "Theodore Olson, conservative lawyer who backed marriage equality, dies at 84". The Washington Post.