WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who served two Republican presidents as one of the country’s best known conservative lawyers and successfully argued on behalf of same-sex marriage, died Wednesday. He was 84.
The law firm Gibson Dunn, where Olson practiced since 1965, announced his death on its website. No cause of death was given.
Olson was at the center of some of the biggest cases of recent decades, including a win on behalf of George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida presidential election recount dispute that went before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Even in a town full of lawyers, Ted’s career as a litigator was particularly prolific,” said Mitch McConnell, the longtime Senate Republican leader. “More importantly, I count myself among so many in Washington who knew Ted as a good and decent man.”
Bush made Olson his solicitor general, a post the lawyer held from 2001 to 2004. Olson had previously served in the…
