A few fun facts about Ted Olsen from Wiki-add your own!

[babylonsister]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Olson

snip

While serving in the Reagan administration, Olson had defended President Reagan during the Iran-Contra affair.

Olson had also gained notability by acting as attorney for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard while he was in private practice. Olson had appealed to United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit claiming that during Pollard's trial, the life sentence he received was in violation of the plea bargain agreement, which had specifically taken life off the table. Olson also argued that in violation of said plea bargain, that was grounds for a mistrial. The Court of Appeals, in a panel of three judges, voted 2-1 that no grounds existed for a mistrial. Future Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cast the deciding vote against Pollard's motion.

Olson successfully represented presidential candidate George W. Bush in the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore, which effectively determined the final result of the contested 2000 Presidential election.

He was nominated to the Office of Solicitor General by President Bush on February 14, 2001, confirmed by the United States Senate on May 24, 2001, and took office on June 11, 2001.

snip//

Prior to President Bush's nomination of D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Roberts, Olson was considered a potential nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's post. Following the withdrawal of Harriet Miers' nomination for that post, and prior to the nomination of Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Samuel Alito, Olson's name was again mentioned as a possible nominee.

more...

[WestHoustonDem]

1. I'm so sure he's the next AG. - and that sucks

Hi babylonsister!

[babylonsister]

3. Hello, my friend! I need to find out whatever possible about this guy.

I know he is persona non grata here and understand from wiki's description, but I'm sure there's more to dig up.

[originalpckelly]

5. Unless the Senate decides not to confirm him.

[TahitiNut]

2. GMTA

:scared:

(He got remarried last year.)

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/03/19/if-gonzales-goes-who-will-replace-him/

Across the Internet, potential successors to AG Gonzales are being tossed about. Here are the names that come up most frequently:

• Jim Comey: The former deputy AG is now GC of Lockheed Martin. The Law Blog knows a handful of lawyers that worked for him when Comey served as U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. They rave about their former boss and remain fiercely loyal to him. But the more relevant question is whether he remains loyal to the Bush administration. Here’s a post from the Volokh Conspiracy that looks at that question.
• Judge Laurence Silberman: Numerous Republicans have floated conservative D.C. Circuit Judge Silberman as a potential nominee, including former Reagan DOJ official Bruce Fein.
• Patrick Fitzgerald: The WaPo’s Andrew Cohen makes a case for the U.S. Attorney from Chicago. Asks Cohen: “Can you think of a better candidate to restore honor and integrity to the Justice Department than the man who just took on the White House, and won, with the perjury and obstruction trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby?”
• Michael Mukasey: Senator Schumer reportedly has floated Mukasey’s name as a potential Supreme Court nominee, so it’s no surprise he tossed his name out there as an AG candidate. The former chief judge of the SDNY stepped down from the bench last year to join Patterson Belknap (click here for the Law Blog post).
• Chris Cox: The SEC chair, former Congressman and ex-Latham & Watkins partner has his hands full at 100 F Street, NE.
• Larry Thompson: The former deputy AG is now GC of Pepsi. Thompson is widely respected, but his name is forever associated with the “Thompson Memo,” his 2003 memo outlining DOJ policy on corporate criminal prosecutions which became shorthand for prosecutorial abuse. It was recently revised with the release of the “McNulty Memo.”
• Ted Olson: The conservative luminary always comes up when high-level Bush administration legal posts become available. When the White House Counsel post opened up, the Gibson Dunn partner and former Solicitor General firmly told reporters he wasn’t interested.
• Michael Luttig: The former Fourth Circuit judge is now the GC of Boeing, having stepped down from the bench last year. According to this page-one WSJ story, Luttig was none too pleased with Bush administration policy on terrorism cases.

[noamnety]

4. From my 2004 notes:

Was a key participant in the activities surrounding the Ken Starr investigation of Bill Clinton, representing David L. Hale, the Whitewater Independent Counsel's chief witness against Bill Clinton. Hale himself had earlier pled guilty to two felonies related to defrauding the Small Business Administration of more than $3.2 million through a federally subsidized company that he headed. Olson provided Hale counsel worth $140,000 without collecting the fees.

Olson was summoned to testify under oath before a congressional committee in March 1983 about advice which the Justice Department had given the EPA on the withholding of documents, related to the Reagan administration's sabotage of the enforcement of anti-pollution laws by the Environmental Protection Administration. An investigation into the activities of the EPA led to the forced resignation of EPA Administrator Ann Gorsuch and of Rita Lavelle, who was in charge of toxic waste cleanup for the agency. In 1986 the Reagan administration was compelled to appoint an independent counsel, Alexia Morrison, to determine whether charges should be brought against Olson for his role in covering up the EPA scandal. Olsonwon a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the Independent Counsel Act was unconstitutional, a decision written by Laurence Silberman, who served in the Nixon Justice Department and is another prominent member of the right-wing legal fraternity in Washington. In the midst of the incident, he left the Department of Justice and returned to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented Bush in the Florida election recount).


EDIT: more on his history of perjury: "He earned a full investigation by an independent counsel, for perjury and obstruction of justice, because of this testimony.

Olson was even cited for contempt of court while contesting the I.C. investigation -- a case he took all the way to the Supreme Court, where he lost decisively. However, he eventually avoided prosecution when the independent counsel scrupulously ruled that, though Olson's testimony was "misleading and disingenuous," it did not rise to the level of prosecutable perjury." http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/05/14/independent_counsel/print.html

"That special counsel, former Justice Department official Michael Shaheen, eventually filed a 168-page report that found Hale had not been paid to testify. But the rest of the Shaheen report, which presumably details the unsavory activities of the Arkansas Project and its detectives, has remained under seal. Its contents may be of interest to Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee as they consider an Olson nomination."
http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/02/06/olson/index1.html

[babylonsister]

7. Thanks! This is the kind of stuff I'm interested in. nt

[Buzz Clik]

6. Olson did his thing for this admin already. You think he's up for another stint?

[WinkyDink]

8. Fabricated story of wife's "phone call" from doomed 9/11 plane.

[Buzz Clik]

10. Really? That would be pretty easy to check. You sure about that?

[gumby]

9. Google: ted olson arkansas project

Ted used to make up stories about the Clinton administration that were then printed in the 'American Spectator.'

It is totally unacceptable that ANY Democratic Senator confirmed him for Solicitor General.