Trump nominates attorney fighting transgender sports cases to federal court

President Donald Trump nominated attorney Justin Olson, of the firm Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP, to sit on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Olson is one of the attorneys helping to lead a lawsuit financed by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) against the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, the Ivy League and NCAA for its handling of a situation involving transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. Olson is also listed as an attorney in ICONS’s lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference and representatives of San Jose State University over their handling of a situation involving trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming. 

Trump noted Olson’s work on those cases in an announcement of the nomination on Truth Social on Friday.

“It is my honor to nominate Justin Olson to serve as Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana! Graduating magna cum laude from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Justin previously distinguished himself at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis and, as a litigator, has been fighting tirelessly to keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump wrote.

“Hoosiers can trust Justin to always uphold the Rule of Law, and strongly protect their Constitutional Rights. Congratulations Justin!”

Former UPenn swimmers Grace Estabrook, Margot Kaczorowski and Ellen Holmquist filed a lawsuit on Feb. 5, alleging UPenn officials led them to feel their concerns over being teammates with Thomas were rooted in a “psychological problem,” and that by allowing Thomas to compete, the institutions “injured them and violated federal law.”

Thomas, a biological male, previously competed for the UPenn men’s swimming team from 2017-20 under the name Will Thomas. According to the lawsuit, Thomas was introduced by women’s swimming head coach Mike Schnur to the women’s swimmers during a team meeting in Fall 2019 as their incoming teammate.

Each of the three plaintiffs claims the experience left them “repeatedly emotionally traumatized.”

The plaintiffs allege that the university administrators pushed pro-trans ideology onto them throughout the process of accepting Thomas on the team and in their locker room. The plaintiffs also allege that the administrators warned them against speaking out against the situation publicly.

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“The UPenn administrators went on to tell the women that if the women spoke publicly about their concerns about Thomas’ participation on the Women’s Team, the reputation of those complaining about Thomas being on the team would be tainted with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would probably never be able to get a job,’” the lawsuit alleges.

Thomas went on to win NCAA Division I national championship in the 500-yard freestyle, earned three All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, and was named the High Point Swimmer of the Meet at the Ivy League Championships. 

UPenn agreed with the Trump administration in June to strip the athlete’s swimming records from the women’s program archives, and adopt a policy to keep biological males out of women’s sports.

Meanwhile, in the SJSU case, former women’s volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser filed that lawsuit in November 2024, alongside 10 other former and current Mountain West players. Slusser alleged the Mountain West and SJSU withheld knowledge of Fleming’s biological sex from her and other players while having her share changing spaces and hotel rooms with Fleming. 

SJSU is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for the situation.

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In addition to his work on those cases, Olson has also served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Civil Division, and 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, responding to government subpoenas, civil investigative demands and requests for information, as well as in navigating and resolving government investigations.

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