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President Donald Trump nominated attorney Justin Olson of Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Olson is one of the attorneys helping to lead a lawsuit funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) against the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, the Ivy League and the NCAA over their handling of a situation involving transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. Olson is also listed as an attorney in ICONS’ 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 highlighted Olson’s work on those cases in a nomination announcement in Truth Social on Friday.
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“I am honored to nominate Justin Olson to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana! A magna cum laude graduate of Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Justin previously distinguished himself in the United States 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 firmly protect their constitutional rights. Congratulations Justin!”
Former UPenn swimmers Grace Estabrook, Margot Kaczorowski and Ellen Holmquist filed a lawsuit on Feb. 5, alleging that UPenn officials made them feel that their concerns about being teammates with Thomas were rooted in a “psychological problem” and that by allowing Thomas to compete, the institutions “hurt them and violated federal law.”
Thomas, a biological male, previously competed for the UPenn men’s swim team from 2017 to 2020 under the name Will Thomas. According to the lawsuit, Thomas was introduced by women’s swimming head coach Mike Schnur to the swimmers during a team meeting in the fall of 2019 as their incoming teammate.
Each of the three plaintiffs claims the experience left them “repeatedly emotionally traumatized.”
The plaintiffs allege that university administrators imposed pro-trans ideology on them throughout the process of Thomas’s acceptance onto the team and into its locker room. The plaintiffs also allege that administrators warned them not to publicly report the situation.
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“UPenn administrators continued to tell the women that if they spoke publicly about their concerns about Thomas’ participation on the women’s team, the reputations of those who complained about Thomas being on the team would be stained with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would likely never be able to get a job,” the lawsuit alleges.
Thomas won the NCAA Division I national championship in the 500-yard freestyle, earned three All-America honors at the NCAA Championships and was named High Point of the Meet swimmer at the Ivy League Championships.
UPenn agreed. with the Trump administration in June to remove athletes’ swimming records from 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, along with 10 other former and current Mountain West players. Slusser alleged that Mountain West and SJSU concealed knowledge of Fleming’s biological sex from her and other players while making her share locker rooms and hotel rooms with Fleming.
SJSU is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education over the situation.
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In addition to his work on those cases, Olson also served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Civil Division of the Southern District of Indiana, and served as a civil health care fraud coordinator and a civil opioid coordinator.
At Kroger Gardis, Olson represents and advises clients on health care fraud and abuse, False Claims Act enforcement, and Controlled Substances Act compliance and regulatory enforcement, responding to government subpoenas, civil investigative demands and requests for information, as well as navigating and resolving government investigations.
