Conservative lawyer Ted Olson, former US solicitor general, dies at 84

washington — 

Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, 1 of the country's best-known blimpish lawyers who served 2 Republican presidents and successfully argued connected behalf of same-sex marriage, died Wednesday. He was 84.

The instrumentality steadfast Gibson Dunn, wherever Olson had practiced since 1965, announced his decease connected its website. No origin of decease was given.

Olson was astatine the halfway of immoderate of the biggest cases of caller decades, including a triumph connected behalf of George W. Bush successful the 2000 Florida statesmanlike predetermination recount quality that went earlier the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Even successful a municipality afloat of lawyers, Ted's vocation arsenic a litigator was peculiarly prolific," said Mitch McConnell, the longtime Senate Republican leader. "More importantly, I number myself among truthful galore successful Washington who knew Ted arsenic a bully and decent man."

Bush made Olson his solicitor general, a station the lawyer held from 2001 to 2004. Olson had antecedently served successful the Justice Department arsenic an adjunct lawyer wide during President Ronald Reagan's archetypal word successful the aboriginal 1980s.

During his career, Olson argued 65 cases earlier the Supreme Court, according to Gibson Dunn.

"They weren't conscionable small cases," said Theodore Boutrous, a spouse astatine the instrumentality steadfast who worked with Olson for 37 years. "Many of them were big, blockbuster cases that helped signifier our society."

Those included the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a 2010 lawsuit that eliminated galore limits connected governmental giving, and a palmy situation to the Trump administration's determination to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

"He's the top lawyer I've ever worked with oregon seen successful action," said Boutrous, who worked truthful intimately with Olson that they were known astatine Gibson Dunn arsenic "the 2 Teds." "He was an entertaining and forceful advocator who could spell toed to toed with the Supreme Court justices successful a mode fewer lawyers could. They respected him truthful much."

One of Olson's astir salient cases enactment him astatine likelihood with galore chap conservatives. After California adopted a prohibition connected same-sex matrimony successful 2008, Olson joined forces with erstwhile adversary David Boies, who had represented Democrat Al Gore successful the statesmanlike predetermination case, to correspond California couples seeking the close to marry.

During closing arguments, Olson contended that contented oregon fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against same-sex couples.

"It is the close of individuals, not an indulgence to beryllium dispensed by the state," Olson said. "The close to marry, to take to marry, has ne'er been tied to procreation."

A national justice successful California ruled successful 2010 that the state's prohibition violated the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court fto that determination basal successful 2013.

"This is the astir important happening I've ever done, arsenic an lawyer oregon a person," Olson aboriginal said successful a documentary movie astir the matrimony case.

He told The Associated Press successful 2014 that the matrimony lawsuit was important due to the fact that it "involves tens of thousands of radical successful California, but truly millions of radical passim the United States and beyond that to the world."

His determination to articulation the lawsuit added a salient blimpish dependable to the rapidly shifting views connected same-sex matrimony crossed the country.

Boies remembered Olson arsenic a elephantine successful ineligible circles who "left the law, our country, and each of america amended than helium recovered us. Few radical are a leader to those that cognize them well. Ted was a leader to those who knew him best."

Olson's idiosyncratic beingness besides intersected tragically with the nation's past erstwhile his 3rd wife, well-known blimpish ineligible expert Barbara Olson, died connected September 11, 2001. She was a rider connected American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

His different high-profile clients person included backmost Tom Brady during the "Deflategate" ungraded of 2016 and exertion institution Apple successful a ineligible conflict with the FBI implicit unlocking the telephone of a shooter who killed 14 radical successful San Bernardino, California, successful 2015.

The scope of his vocation and his stature connected the nationalist signifier were unmatched, said Barbara Becker, managing spouse of Gibson Dunn.

In a statement, she described Olson arsenic "a titan of the ineligible assemblage and 1 of the astir bonzer and eloquent advocates of our time."