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President Donald Trump nominated attorney Justin Olson of the firm Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP to serve on the U.S. 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 for its 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 noted Olson’s work on those cases in an announcement of the nomination on Truth Social on Friday.
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“It is my honor to nominate Justin Olson to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana! After 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 fought tirelessly to keep women’s sports,” Trump wrote to keep men’s sports.
“Hoosiers can count on Justin to always uphold the rule of law and vigorously protect their constitutional rights. Congratulations Justin!”
Former UPenn swimmers Grace Estabrook, Margot Kaczorowski and Ellen Holmquist filed a lawsuit on February 5, alleging that UPenn officials made them feel their concerns about being teammates with Thomas were rooted in a “psychological issue” and that by allowing Thomas to compete, the institutions “harmed 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 director Mike Schnur to the women’s swimmers during a team meeting in the fall of 2019 as their future 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 on them throughout the process of accepting Thomas onto the team and into their locker room. The plaintiffs also allege that the administrators warned them against speaking out publicly against the situation.
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“The UPenn administrators proceeded to tell the women that if the women spoke publicly about their concerns about Thomas’ participation on the women’s team, the reputations of those who complained that Thomas was on the team would be tarnished with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would likely never be able to get a job,” the lawsuit states.
Thomas went on to win the NCAA Division I national championship in the 500-yard freestyle, earn 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 remove the athlete’s swimming records from the women’s program’s 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 this lawsuit in November 2024 along with 10 other former and current Mountain West players. Slusser alleged that the Mountain West and SJSU withheld knowledge of Fleming’s biological gender from her and other players while she shared locker rooms and hotel rooms with Fleming.
SJSU is currently under investigation by the US Department of Education for the situation.
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In addition to his work on these cases, Olson has also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Civil Division, serving as the Civil Health Fraud Coordinator and Civil Opioid Coordinator.
At Kroger Gardis, Olson represents and advises clients on healthcare fraud and abuse, enforcement of the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Compliance and Enforcement Act, responding to government subpoenas, civil investigative demands and requests for information, and in navigating and resolving government investigations.
