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President Donald Trump has nominated attorney Justin Olson, of Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP, to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Olson is one of the attorneys who helped 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 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 San Jose State University officials over their handling of a situation involving trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming.
Trump highlighted Olson’s work on these cases in a nomination announcement on Truth Social Friday.
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“It is my honor to nominate Justin Olson to serve as Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana! A magna cum laude graduate of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Justin previously distinguished himself in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis and, as a trial lawyer, fought 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 Feb. 5, alleging that UPenn officials led them to believe that their concerns about being teammates with Thomas were rooted in a “psychological issue,” 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 2017-2020 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 fall 2019 as a new teammate.
Each of the three plaintiffs says the experience left them “emotionally traumatized on multiple occasions.”
The plaintiffs allege that university administrators imposed a pro-trans ideology on them throughout the process of accepting Thomas onto the team and into their locker room. The plaintiffs also allege that administrators warned them against speaking out publicly about the situation.
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“UPenn administrators then told 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’ presence on the team would be tainted with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would likely never be able to find employment,” the lawsuit claims.
Thomas went on to win the NCAA Division I national championship in the 500-yard freestyle, earned three All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, and was named the high-level meet swimmer at the Ivy League Championships.
UPenn agreed with the Trump administration in June to remove athletes’ swimming records from the women’s program’s records and adopt a policy to exclude biological males from women’s sports.
Meanwhile, in the SJSU case, former women’s volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser filed this suit in November 2024, alongside 10 other former and current Mountain West players. Slusser alleged that Mountain West and SJSU hid knowledge of Fleming’s biological sex from her and other players while having her share locker rooms and hotel rooms with Fleming.
SJSU is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education regarding this situation.
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In addition to his work on these cases, Olson also served as an Assistant United States 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, False Claims Act enforcement, and Controlled Substances Act regulatory compliance and enforcement, responding to government subpoenas, civil investigative requests, and requests for information, as well as navigating and resolving government investigations.
