Senate Panel Advances Trump Judge Pick Probed on Religious Views

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a US district court nominee who was pressed by a Republican member for on past religious sermons and teachings he gave.

Justin Olson’s nomination to the Southern District of Indiana was approved along party lines, 12-10, on Thursday. His supporters included Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who had pressed Olson at his confirmation hearing on teachings he gave asan ordained elder of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America.

After meeting with Olson, Kennedy said he’s now convinced that Olson will “apply the rule of law,” regardless of his personal opinions.

Kennedy had cited specific sermons and teachings in his questioning at the Dec. 17 confirmation hearing, including whether he believes people with physical or developmental disabilities shouldn’t be allowed to marry, and whether women must be subservient to their husbands within Christian marriage.

Generally, Olson said that his teachings were reflective of his church’s doctrines at the time and that his own views would be irrelevant to his job as a judge.

Kennedy is known for his probing questioning of presidential nominees from both parties, though his “pop quiz"-style questions tend to focus on legal doctrines and procedure.

A nominee’s past sermons is an uncommon subject of scrutiny for the Senate review process of judicial nominees.

Olson is a lawyer at Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP who Trump has tapped for the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Olson represented a group of three female swimmers who sued the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard College, and others in Boston federal court this year over the participation of their teammate, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, in the 2022 Ivy League Championships. Trump praised Olson for his work “fighting tirelessly to keep men out of women’s sports.”

Olson also filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court on behalf of Riley Gaines and other athletes in a challenge to state laws banning transgender women from participating in female sports.

He previously worked as an assistant US attorney for civil cases at the Southern District of Indiana, according to his law firm biography.

The panel also advanced the following nominations:

• Nicholas Ganjei, who was Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) chief nominations counsel, 12-10, for the Southern District of Texas. He’s been serving as a US attorney in the state since last year
• Brian Charles Lea, deputy associate attorney general at Justice Department since last year, 12-10, for the Western District of Tennessee
• David Clay Fowlkes, US attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, 13-9, for a US district judgeship there
• Megan Benton, a state court judge, 12-10, for the Western District of Missouri
• Aaron Christian Peterson, a senior assistant attorney general for the state of Alaska, 14-8, for the District of Alaska

Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island both supported Peterson. Whitehouse also voted to advance Fowlkes.