Trump Judicial Nominee Promotes January 6 Misinformation and the Subjugation of Wives

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from three federal judicial nominees who refused to admit that Biden won the 2020 election –only that “[i]n 2020, Joseph Biden was declared the victor,” (emphasis added). This follows a pattern we’ve seen repeatedly from Trump’s nominees.

However, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) then asked the nominees whether they believed the Capitol was attacked on January 6.

Megan Benton (nominated for the Western District of Missouri) and Brian Lea (nominated for the Western District of Tennessee) simply dodged the question, but Justin Olson (nominated for the Southern District of Indiana) stunningly described the January 6 insurrection as merely “individuals entered the Capitol and some of them were charged and there were cases that arose as a result.”

Like the others, he signaled his loyalty to the Trump administration, but worse yet, he openly admitted under oath he believes in an alternative reality fueled by Trump’s misinformation.

To be clear, the United States Capitol was intentionally attacked by a crowd that tried to stop the certification of electoral votes, and, as a result, 150 law enforcement officers were assaulted and injured and five officers died afterwards. Watch the full exchange with Blumenthal:

Amazingly, this January 6 denial was perhaps not even the most extreme view Olson shared during the hearing.

In another line of questioning, Senator Kennedy (R-LA) asked Olson about his many Sunday school teachings, including one lesson in which Olson taught that transgenderism, homosexuality, fornication, and all sorts of sexual perversions are a form of hypocrisy from “shame on the inside.”

Olson defended these teachings by explaining that the doctrine of his church believes that fornication —  “any sexual act outside of marriage,” including pre-marital sex — is a sin.

Kennedy then asked about another sermon, in which Olson preached that God called wives to be subject to their husband and to “serve the good of your husband and support your calling.”

Olson reassured Kennedy that he was only describing the church’s understanding of what marriage should look like based on scripture. But Olson confirmed he shared these beliefs, explaining: “I believe every word in the bible.”

Watch the full exchange between Olson and Kennedy:

These disturbing responses are consistent with Olson’s record. Indeed, Olson has touted that he has a “specialty” in litigation specifically to target transgender athletes for discrimination. He represented ICONS (Independent Council on Women’s Sports), an advocacy organization that financially backed the effort to try and kick transgender students out of college sports in Gaines v. NCAA. Not only has he misgendered litigants, he and his co-counsel requested a judge’s recusal when courtroom protocols required all parties to (respectfully and humanely) use the appropriate pronouns when referring to others.

ICONS routinely appears to collaborate with IWF (Independent Women’s Forum) and IWV (Independent Women’s Voice), two other anti-trans groups. While ICONS’ funding is still a mystery, the latter two groups are both heavily funded by Koch money, and have spent years attacking reproductive freedoms, equal pay for women, and Title IX protections.

In a law review article, Olson also sought to justify antiabortion laws that establish fetal personhood. Such statutes set a dangerous precedent and can be used to block lifesaving care or medical treatments. The deadly and harmful impacts of these statutes have ripple effects that touch doctors and care providers, who are spooked into denying lifesaving care due to fear of prosecution.

In Olson, we have yet another right-wing extremist who is not even trying to hide his biases while pledging loyalty to Trump’s misinformation at the expense of democracy. Appointing Olson to a lifetime role as a federal judge will undermine judicial independence, undermine confidence in the federal judiciary, and hurt scores of litigants who are transgender, LGBTQ+, and women by exposing all of these groups to Olson’s loud and aggressive bigotry and biases.

Senator Hawley abruptly ended yesterday’s hearing, possibly to stop Justin Olson from further discrediting himself, but we’ve seen more than enough to know he is unfit and unqualified.

Senator Blumenthal’s final words in the hearing still echo: “I am incredulous. I am totally disbelieving that nominees for the federal district court will not answer purely factual questions just because you are in fear of what? If you are so much in fear of answering these questions, how will you have the courage to be [a] fair and impartial judge who follows the law without fear or favor?”

Christine Chen Zinner is the Federal Research and Advocacy Director at Alliance for Justice.