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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAn Indianapolis attorney nominated to fill a federal judge slot in Indiana’s Southern District faced tough questions from U.S. senators about his views on the 2020 presidential election, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his personal religious beliefs during a confirmation committee hearing this week.
Justin Olson, a Kroger Gardis & Regas LLP attorney nominated by President Donald Trump to fill a long-vacant federal judge seat on the Indiana Southern District Court bench, appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday along with three other federal nominees.
During the committee hearing, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut asked Olson and the other three nominees who they believed won the popular and Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election.
Olson said former President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election and certified by the Electoral College, but declined to explicitly say that Trump lost the election.
The nominee added that the “Jan. 6 events are a matter of public controversy,” and declined to offer an opinion on whether they constituted an assault on the U.S. Capitol, saying that it would be “improper” to do so when some matters related to that day are still being adjudicated.
“I don’t know if I can vote for someone who declines to answer a clear, factual question,” Blumenthal responded to Olson and the other nominees, who offered similar responses.
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor, told The Indiana Lawyer in an email that a number of judicial nominees in the second Trump administration have been asked demiquestions like those that Blumenthal and other Democratic senators have posed and that is likely to continue as part of the committee’s standard questions.
“Sen. Blumenthal was unhappy with all four nominees refusal to answer his questions about whether Biden won the 2020 election and what happened on Jan 6, 2021,” Tobias noted.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, also pressed Olson about statements he allegedly made during sermons as a Reformed Presbyterian elder regarding whether people with disabilities should marry, whether having sex outside of marriage was a “form of sexual perversion,” and whether wives should be subservient to their husbands.
Olson said that in terms of people with disabilities, he was just using them as an example of why some people don’t get married and not saying they shouldn’t be allowed to marry.
The nominee said that, based on the doctrine of the church he was attending at the time, that fornication is a sin.
To Kennedy’s question about wives and subservience to their husbands, Olson said, “Senator, I believe every word of the Bible.”
In response to a question from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, Olson stressed that, if confirmed, he would without reservation submit to and follow the U.S. Constitution as a federal judge.
Tobias said he doubted that Kennedy or other GOP members would vote “no” on Olson and he would possibly be approved on a 12-10 party-line vote in the committee and in similar fashion by the full Senate.
When Trump nominated Olson, he prominently touted that that Indiana attorney has been representing three former University of Pennsylvania women swimmers that sued Penn, Harvard University, the Ivy League and the Indianapolis-based NCAA for alleged Title IX violations by allowing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete on Penn’s women’s swim team in 2021-2022.
Olson was nominated to fill the Indiana Southern District judge post that has been vacant since July 2024, when Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson took senior status.
In a social media post announcing Olson’s nomination, Trump also noted that Olson graduated magna cum laude from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.
The Kroger Gardis website said Olson also was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Civil Division. He served as the civil health care fraud coordinator and civil opioid coordinator
At Kroger Gardis, Olson represents and advises clients on health care fraud and abuse, the False Claims Act enforcement and Controlled Substances Act regulatory compliance and enforcement.
He also advises clients in responding to government subpoenas, civil investigative demands and requests for information, as well as in navigating and resolving government investigations.
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, had said he was blown away by Olson’s credentials and added that the nominee has a record of doing the right thing.”
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