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The latest challenge to Prop 8 could be show on television. Ted Olson and David Boies, are suing saying Prop 8 is unconstitutional. The judge has reportedly 'hinted' that he may allow cameras..

Of all the lawyers who might have challenged California's ban on same-sex marriage, one of the least likely candidates would seem to be Theodore Olson: a high-ranking Justice Department attorney under Ronald Reagan, U.S. solicitor general under George W. Bush, and lawyer for Bush in the Bush vs. Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election. But when a federal judge in San Francisco held a critical hearing last week in a suit by two same-sex couples challenging Proposition 8, they were represented by Olson and David Boies, his courtroom adversary in Bush vs. Gore. Before the hearing, Olson talked...

Gay Marraige and the Consitution (BARF ALERT) Why Ted Olson and I are working to overturn California's Proposition 8. By DAVID BOIES When I got married in California in 1959 there were almost 20 states where marriage was limited to two people of different sexes and the same race. Eight years later the Supreme Court unanimously declared state bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional. Recently, Ted Olson and I brought a lawsuit asking the courts to now declare unconstitutional California's Proposition 8 limitation of marriage to people of the opposite sex. We acted together because of our mutual commitment to the...

SAN FRANCISCO - The attorney representing two same-sex couples who were denied a right to wed in California said on Thursday he expected the case to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to hear a case on the gay marriage issue. "When it does get to the United States Supreme Court, we expect to win," Theodore Olson, who was solicitor general under former President George W. Bush, told reporters after the first hearing on federal lawsuit that was filed in May. A high court ruling potentially could trump state laws prohibiting same-sex unions. Five out of...

Attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies, who faced off in Bush V. Gore, have declared they are working together to do what they can to bring Prop 8 before a federal court claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution. Please watch the following interview with Chris Matthews to fully understand their contentions and my responses in this article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUlDZLZ1Gls&feature=player_embedded These two lawyers are claiming that Prop 8 violates fundamental rights protected by the U.S. Constitution and amounts to discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The analogies made by these attorneys are perverse. They equate gay marriage with interracial marriage....

Gay-rights lawyers on Wednesday welcomed longtime conservative lawyer Theodore Olson into the fight for same-sex marriage, but warned him and liberal colleague David Boies that they could hurt the cause more than help it by launching an attack on California's Proposition 8 in the federal courts. "There is no end run around the nitty-gritty work of social change," Evan Wolfson, executive director of the New York-based Freedom to Marry, said in a telephone call. "If it was just about hiring a good lawyer and filing a good brief, we'd have won decades ago." Olson, who represented George W. Bush in...

After yesterday’s ruling from the California Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8’s ban on gay marriage but allowing the already-existing gay marriages to remain legal, I predicted that an inventive attorney would attack the judgment in federal court on equal-protection arguments arising from that Solomonic split. That challenge came more quickly than even I predicted, and from an unusual choice of attorneys. Byron York profiles Ted Olson’s decision to make a federal case out of Prop 8: ----------------------------------------------- "The suit argues that the state’s marriage ban, upheld Tuesday by the California Supreme Court, violates the federal constitutional right for same-sex couples...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Gay advocates on Wednesday warned against taking the fight to legalize same-sex marriages to federal courts, saying doing so will make it more difficult to gain marriage equality. The same day, lawyers who were at opposing sides of the Bush v. Gore case in the 2000 presidential race filed a lawsuit appealing the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8. In a joint statement, the American Civil Rights Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights and other prominent liberal groups said filing "ill-timed, premature" lawsuits based on the federal Constitution. "Pushing the federal...

Gay rights advocates Wednesday blasted two veteran attorneys for filing a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn Proposition 8, California's voter-approved same-sex marriage ban, saying the move is premature and could be disastrous for the marriage movement. While they knew of the objections, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies - who opposed each other during the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election case - filed the suit Friday in San Francisco on behalf of two same-sex couples who wanted to be married but were denied because of Prop. 8. The suit claims the voter-approved measure, which the California Supreme Court...

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - Two attorneys who squared off in the legal battle that decided the 2000 presidential election will team up Wednesday to file a federal lawsuit claiming that the ban on same-sex marriage imposed by the passage of Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution. Theodore B. Olson and David Boies plan to file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on behalf of two gay men and two lesbian women, arguing that the proposition violates the U.S. constitutional guarantee of equal protection and due process. The complaint will also ask for an injunction blocking Proposition 8...

A strange-bedfellows duo of top constitutional lawyers said today they are challenging the legal validity of Proposition 8, the November 2008 ballot measure that prohibited same-sex marriages in California. Speaking at a Los Angeles press conference, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies said they had filed a suit in federal court on behalf of two gay California couples, and would seek an injunction to stay the law while arguing it is a violation of the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Olson, a former U.S. solicitor general, represented former President George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore, which decided...

President George W. Bush's first Solicitor General, Ted Olson, filed a lawsuit in US district court on May 22 to protest Prop 8, the California law banning same sex marriage. Joining with his former opponent in Bush v Gore, David Boies, Olson is suing on behalf of two same-sex couples in California, The Advocate reports: Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier of Berkeley, who have been together for nine years and are the parents of four children, and Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo of Burbank, who have been together for eight years.

Former Bush administration solicitor general Theodore Olson is part of a team that has filed suit in federal court in California seeking to overturn Proposition 8 and re-establish the right of same-sex couples to marry.

With a backlog of applications piled up at the Justice Department, high-profile criminals and their well-connected lawyers increasingly are appealing directly to President Bush for special consideration on pardons and clemency, according to people involved in the process. Among those seeking presidential action are former junk-bond salesman Michael Milken, who hired former solicitor general Theodore B. Olson, one of the nation's most prominent GOP lawyers, to plead his case for a pardon on 1980s-era securities fraud charges. Two politicians convicted of public corruption, former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and four-term Louisiana governor Edwin W. Edwards (D), are asking Bush...

Two top attorneys who argued Bush v. Gore on opposite sides have now joined forces to strike down Prop 8 in federal court, filing for a preliminary injunction against same-sex marriage ban until the case is resolved, which would immediately reinstate the right for all Californians to marry. Theodore B. Olson and David will officially announce their case tomorrow morning in downtown, according to the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Olson, a former U.S. Solicitor General represented President Bush, against Al Gore, who was represented by Boies. The pair is representing two gay men and two gay women who were...

Perhaps more than anyone in Washington today, Theodore Olson knows the dangers of the path the Obama administration is traveling on the question of Bush-era terrorist interrogations. It's not just that Olson is one of the nation's top lawyers and a former high-ranking Justice Department official. It's not even that his wife Barbara was among those killed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. The thing that makes Olson's perspective so valuable is that his life includes not only those experiences but also a keen perspective on the way Washington investigations can run amok. In the 1980s, Olson was the subject...

One minute they were debating whether an anti-Hillary Clinton video could be shown during her Democratic primary campaign. And the next, U.S. Supreme Court justices launched into a spirited debate over whether election laws could lead to, say, banning books. “The government’s position is that the First Amendment allows the banning of a book if it’s published by a corporation?” Justice Samuel Alito asked incredulously. The case involved a much narrower question — whether the conservative advocacy group Citizens United could use a cable-based video-on-demand service to distribute its 90-minute anti-Clinton documentary. A panel of three district court judges found...

Mr. McCain stepped up his attempts to court the Republican right, scoring a number of high-profile endorsements this week. Yesterday, he received the support of billionaire Steve Forbes as well as former Solicitor General Theodore Olson. Mr. Olson, who served as assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, represented President Bush in the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore. The picture was a bit mixed earlier in the week when Mr. McCain got near-simultaneous endorsements from moderates California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former New York Mayor and rival Rudy Giuliani, causing some consternation among party conservatives. Some prominent pundits, including...

When Rudy Giuliani left the race and threw his support behind John McCain, people wondered whether it would have much effect on the race. After all, the Mayor had faded badly in the Republican primaries after utilizing a strategy that made him largely irrelevant in the national media. However, Rudy brought two other endorsements that could help build bridges with disaffected conservatives if McCain wins the nomination. First came Ted Olson to provide reassurance on judicial nominations, and today Steve Forbes endorsed McCain, perhaps addressing his self-professed weakness on economics: U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today announced that Steve...

Thursday, January 31, 2008 JOHN MCCAINMcCain Picks Up Ted OlsonLooks like when Giuliani made his endorsement, one of his key backers moved with him: Jen Rubin hears Ted Olson, former Solicitor General (and a guy mentioned in recent Supreme Court and Attorney General vacancies) is backing McCain. I guess he's not worried about the comment in the Fund/Novak columns. 01/31 05:42 PM

GOP Hopeful's Mayoral Appointments At Odds With Pledge To Appoint Conservative Jurists. Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani has been winning over some conservative Republicans by promising to appoint judges in the mold of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and others who might seem likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Judges he named as New York mayor, however, could never be mistaken for Scalia. Giuliani's promise has helped overcome his abortion rights support as an issue for conservative voters. After all, the next president can do little about abortion except to name judges who interpret...

We are conservatives who are proud to support Rudy Giuliani for president. We support Rudy because he is a strong leader -- a man of action and a man of his word. And a big part of that is his proven effectiveness -- his record of actually changing things for the better in concrete, measurable ways. A perfect example of his leadership and proven effectiveness is Rudy's record on adoption. Rudy Giuliani dramatically increased the number of adoptions in the New York City system as mayor. Adoptions skyrocketed 133% over his eight year tenure compared to the eight years before...

To some extent, America knows Rudy Giuliani. They know him as “America’s Mayor,” the man who engineered the greatest urban Renaissance of my lifetime and who stood as a pillar of strength when our nation needed him most. But there is more to Rudy — much more to the man I have had the privilege to know since we first worked together in the Reagan Justice Department. .... . . . The breadth of Rudy Giuliani’s experience in the arenas of justice and [national] security is simply unmatched by any presidential candidate running today. Rudy has been an inspirational leader...

White House officials signaled to influential conservatives this weekend that Michael B. Mukasey, a nominee of President Ronald Reagan who is the former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is the likely choice to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, several Republicans close to the process told The Politico. "It came down to confirmability," said a former Justice Department official close to the conversations. Democrats and liberals are expected to view the choice as conciliatory, the Republicans said. Conservatives had been rooting for former Solicitor General Theodore B. (Ted) Olson, but Senator Majority...

WASHINGTON - Conservatives on Saturday lined up for and against potential attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, the man they believe has ascended to the top of President Bush's list of replacements for Alberto Gonzales. Earlier in the week, Democrats in the Senate threatened to block confirmation of another prospect — Theodore Olson, a longtime GOP ally and former solicitor general who represented Bush before the Supreme Court in the contested 2000 presidential election. The behind-the-scenes battle over who will succeed Gonzales heated up over the weekend as the president, who was at Camp David, moved closer to announcing his choice....

Not content with having run Attorney General Alberto Gonzales out of town, the Democratic posse on Capitol Hill is already gunning for his replacement--even before he's nominated. More preposterous still, they're disguising this pre-emptive borking as a plea for a "consensus" choice. The breadth of this proposed condominium appears to be on the narrow side, however, running from Harry Reid to Pat Leahy, and perhaps stretching all the way to Chuck Schumer. Revealingly, this "consensus" doesn't seem to have room for Ted Olson, the former Solicitor General who is merely one of America's finest lawyers. "Ted Olson will not be...

To Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, Ted Olson is an unrepentant Republican, uniquely unqualified to succeed outgoing Alberto Gonzalez as U.S Attorney General. To Lanny Davis, he's an independent thinker perfect for the job. And to George Bush, he just might be a one-way ticket out of lame-duck Palookaville. In Wednesday's pre-emptive attack on the man who has yet to be nominated, let alone voice his acceptance, Nevada Democrat Reid told Reuters that, "[Olson]'s a partisan, and the last thing we need as an attorney general is a partisan." What a remarkable statement, even from the oft-erratic Senate majority leader,...

Senate Republicans on Wednesday fired a warning shot at Democrats on the White House’s still-unnamed attorney general pick as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared that front-runner Ted Olson would not be confirmed. The early sparring over the successor to Alberto Gonzales, who cedes power at the Justice Department on Friday, foreshadows a brutal confirmation battle to come. Minutes after Reid declared former solicitor general Olson was too partisan for the job, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fired a salvo at Democrats who would delay Gonzales’s replacement. “If they were serious when they cried out for new leadership at the...

ABC News' Ann Compton, Z. Byron Wolf and Theresa Cook Report: The confirmation battle for the next Attorney General is already heating up -- even before the White House has named a nominee for the post. ABC News has confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Reuters this afternoon that "Ted Olson will not be confirmed." Olson, a former Solicitor General and Assistant Attorney General, has emerged as a top contender for the job, but Democrats have charged that his political leanings would influence his work as the nation's top law enforcement official, an accusation that has plagued...

If the buzz around Washington is correct, and Theodore Olson is nominated to be the new attorney general, Democrats may rue that they do not have Alberto Gonzales to kick around anymore. The appointment of Mr. Olson would send a clear signal to Congress that President Bush is not about to go soft during his last 15 months in office. He may have lost a loyal Texan friend in Mr. Gonzales, but the return of Mr. Olson to government would show that the president is determined to maintain his ideological equilibrium.-SNIP- The speculation making the rounds on Capitol Hill suggests...

Top Democrat vows to block possible Bush nominee 41 minutes ago Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed on Wednesday to block former Solicitor General Theodore Olson from becoming attorney general if President George W. Bush nominates him to replace Alberto Gonzales. Congressional and administration officials have described Olson as a leading contender for the job as the nation's chief U.S. law enforcement officer, but Reid declared: "Ted Olson will not be confirmed" by the Senate. "He's a partisan, and the last thing we need as an attorney general is a partisan," Reid told Reuters in a brief hallway interview on...

Ted Olson becomes frontrunner for Attorney General, top sources tell DRUDGE REPORT; announcement could be imminent... Developing...

President Bush is expected to choose a replacement for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales by the middle of next week, and former solicitor general Theodore B. Olson has emerged as one of the leading contenders for the job, according to sources inside and outside the government who are familiar with White House deliberations. Other candidates still in the running include former deputy attorney general George J. Terwilliger III and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Laurence H. Silberman, according to the sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the discussions. Others whose names continue to be...

Well, I think there are several things. In the first place, these were trial level, municipal type judges in New York City. Rudy had to select from people that were available, and had certain levels of compensation, I mean, certain levels of experience. Plus he was operating within a political system where his discretion was quite limited. It’s nothing like the process that he would take and had followed, indeed as you probably know he did, in the United States Justice Department when judges were being selected in the Reagan administration. HH: And so, really is the argument back to...

Theodore Olson, the stalwart conservative lawyer and former solicitor general for the Bush administration, told the Spectator he will be supporting Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid. "I admire his character, his capacity for leadership, his instincts, and his principles," Olson said over the phone this afternoon. He said he will help Giuliani raise money as well as offer advice on legal issues and domestic policy matters that involve constitutional questions.

Top Washington lawyer Ted Olson and his fiancee, Lady Booth, tied the knot yesterday in Napa Valley, Calif., starting a happy new chapter in Olson's personal life. "She's a Southern girl," he told us. "She's just a marvelous person." Olson shot to national fame when he successfully argued the 2000 election case for George W. Bush in the Supreme Court, and was named solicitor general by the grateful president. On Sept. 11, 2001 -- his 61st birthday -- his wife, conservative commentator Barbara Olson, was killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. His personal loss became part...

The U.S. Justice Department is trying to determine whether Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., got improper help from an Israeli lobbying group. Harman of California is the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee. Time Magazine reports she may have received a boost from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee when Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wanted to remove her from the committee. Harman left a voice mail for the magazine calling any suggestions of improper conduct "irresponsible, laughable and scurrilous." She has retained Ted Olson, the lawyer who formerly served as President George W. Bush's solicitor general.

Weekend Talk Show *Preview* for 7/1 and 7/2/06 (not the live thread)The main message is the Sunday Shows.  Message 1 will be the Saturday Shows and message 2 will be the show guest links post.  Then I'll post the ping list.ABC This Week (George Stephanopoulos) Meme: Bush was wrong on all the issues McCain is right onThe Supreme's smack down the Bushies (who cares if it endangers the country, it's NEWS!!!) Topics: Hamdan, Immigration, and Iraq Guests Senator John McCain, Republican - Arizona He's BAAAAACKMcCain's back and Georgie's got himIt's such a tragedy that President Bush didn't listen to Saint...

Just wanted to give thanks on this day for our great Solicitor General, Ted Olson, as he endures more than almost anyone can imagine, rmembering his dear wife, Barbara, on his birthday. Happy Birthday!!!

A former U.S. solicitor general will help Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel appeal his murder conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying Monday the case will focus on when the charges were filed. Theodore B. Olson has argued 43 cases before the nation's highest court, including representing George W. Bush in the disputed presidential race of 2000. Skakel, 45, is serving a sentence of 20 years to life for his 2002 conviction in the 1975 beating death of his Greenwich neighbor, Martha Moxley, when the two were teenagers. Skakel appealed his conviction to the Connecticut Supreme Court last year, arguing among...

...Elevating Judge Roberts to Chief was a logical decision, both politically and on the merits. The Senate and media have been investigating the nominee since July, and have found superlatives with nary a negative. The Judge is in a position to be rapidly confirmed.... More importantly, what we have learned about Judge Roberts suggests that he shares Chief Justice Rehnquist's judicial philosophy. If Mr. Bush now follows with the nomination of an equally distinguished conservative for the Court's second opening, the Roberts Court will be able to continue the legal restoration that the late Chief Rehnquist began.... That historic mission...

CHICAGO - Supreme Court nominee John Roberts skipped the American Bar Association's yearly meeting, but big-name conservatives like Kenneth Starr and Theodore Olson were there to promote his credentials. Roberts' nomination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is a watershed for lawyers. And with Senate confirmation hearings just a month away, he was the inescapable subject at the meeting of the country's largest lawyers group. Top conservatives, from Starr and Olson to Reagan administration Attorney General Edwin Meese and Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo, were attending the meeting and serving as unofficial ambassadors on Roberts' behalf. "For those people...

NEWTOWN, CT -- (Market Wire - Jul 20, 2005) -- Firearm manufacturers today filed papers asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruling permitting lawsuits against firearms manufacturers under the District of Columbia's "Assault Weapon Manufacturing Strict Liability Act." Firearm manufacturers maintain the District's act is unconstitutional because it is intended to and does regulate out-of-state commerce. The statute imposes liability, for example, when an out-of-state manufacturer (it has long been unlawful to manufacture and sell firearms in the District) sells a gun to a federally licensed retailer who then sells the firearm...

Whom will President Bush appoint to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court? We can find the answer in his character and in his past actions. First consider that the three big "No's" of the Bush administration -- no to the Kyoto treaty, no to the renewal of the ABM treaty, and no to the International Criminal Court -- came well before the 9/11 attacks, before the Bush whose wartime performance seems to have wiped out memory of who he was when he took office. He does not fear to be unpopular or unfashionable. Then consider his early,...

Manuel Miranda no longer is the top counsel on judicial nominations for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, but he still keeps a close eye on the exciting doings at the Supreme Court. Miranda made headlines in 2003 when he was investigated for reading about 4,500 Democrat staff memos relating to President Bush's judicial nominees that he allegedly improperly accessed through a shared Judiciary Committee computer network.

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate two individuals and appoint three individuals to serve in his Administration: The President intends to nominate Carol E. Dinkins, of Texas, to be Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Ms. Dinkins is currently a Partner with Vinson and Elkins, LLP in Houston, Texas. From 1984 to 1985, she served as Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, where she previously served as Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division. The President intends to nominate Alan Charles Raul, of the District of Columbia, to...

Others with close White House connections say a short list is well into development. "There's a normal process that the White House has definitely been pursuing for at least six months where they are soliciting views and recommendations," said Samuel B. Casey, executive director of the Christian Legal Society (CLS). "We have submitted our views." Said one top Republican official with close ties to the White House: "The same four or five or six names keep coming up. I'm sure they have a short list already." Top administration and White House officials -- including Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Solicitor...

Ted Olson Criticizes GOP Leaders For 'Heated Rhetoric' About Judges Thu Apr 21 2005 09:57:54 ET Former solicitor general Theodore Olson writes in the WALL STREET JOURNAL on Thursday: "A prominent member of the Senate leadership recently described a Supreme Court justice as 'a disgrace.' An equally prominent member of the leadership of the House of Representatives on the other side of the political aisle has characterized another justice's approach to adjudication as 'incredibly outrageous.' These excoriations follow other examples of personalized attacks on members of the judiciary by senior political figures. So it is time to take a deep...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 - In an atmosphere of optimism, redemption and gleeful gossip - "So who's Bush going to put on the court first?" - nearly 1,000 conservative lawyers gathered here this week at the annual convention of the Federalist Society. Analysts may debate whether President Bush's margin of victory on Nov. 2 constitutes a mandate, but to the members of the society, the election means the promised land is within sight. They are confident, they said, that Mr. Bush's second term will give them what they have yearned for before, only to be disappointed at partial fulfillment. In the...

Was watching hardball tonight with Chris Mattews and one of his guests was Washington Attorney Joe DeGenova and someone else discussing what happened to the Democrats and the upcoming Judicial nominations. While discussing who might be the next Chief Justice Mr. DeGenova suggested the name of our Solictor General Ted Olson. I for one think Mr. Olson would be a great choice on many levels but I also think that Mr. Olson to a degree is "Bullett Proof". I think it would be very hard for the Left Wing Liberals to attack him, although we know they will, given his...