President Donald Trump just nominated transphobic Indiana attorney Justin Olson to serve as a federal judge in the Indiana Southern District Court. Olson works with the so-called Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) to sue universities and the NCAA for their trans-inclusive sports policies.

In a social media post announcing Olson’s nomination, Trump wrote, “Graduating magna cum laude from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Justin previously distinguished himself at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis and, as a litigator, has been fighting tirelessly to keep men out of women’s sports.”

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Olson is a lead lawyer in an anti-trans lawsuit financed by ICONS representing three former University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) women swimmers who sued UPenn, Harvard University, the Ivy League (an athletic conference of eight private universities, including UPenn and Harvard), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The lawsuit alleges that the universities and NCAA violated Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based educational discrimination, by allowing trans swimmer Lia Thomas to compete on UPenn’s women’s swim team during 2021 and 2022, Daily Journal reported, something which left the plaintiffs “repeatedly emotionally traumatized.” The suit seeks a total ban on trans female athletes — citing opportunities “lost” and “taken” from trans women who allegedly “displaced” cis women “unfairly.”

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“The UPenn administrators went on to tell the [plaintiffs] that if the women spoke publicly about their concerns about Thomas’ participation on the Women’s Team, the reputation of those complaining about Thomas being on the team would be tainted with transphobia for the rest of their lives and they would probably never be able to get a job,’” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit wants the NCAA to “render invalid and reassign and revise all awards, records, points, prizes, titles, trophies announcements or other recognition assigned, given announced, communicate or recognized by the NCAA which were based in any way upon the competitive results or participation of any male who competed in women’s events.”

Last June, UPenn stripped Thomas of her athletic swimming records and adopted an anti-trans sports ban, after pressure from the current presidential administration.

Olson is also an attorney in ICONS’ lawsuit against San Jose State University (SJSU) and the Mountain West Conference for allowing a trans volleyball player to participate in collegiate matches. The player — who participated for three seasons without any issues over her participation — didn’t cause any unfair advantage or injuries, but the lawsuit claims her presence still stifled other female athletes’ “free speech.”

The U.S. Department of Education is currently investigating SJSU for the situation.

ICONS has also used its social media to demean three successful high school trans girls, and collegiate track athlete Sadie Schreiner, referring to them as “men” and “cheaters,” even though each was fully eligible to compete by the regulations of the respective governing bodies of their event, Outsports reported.

Olson’s legal efforts align with that of the Trump administration

This past February, Trump signed an executive order to block federal funding for schools that allow trans girls and women to participate in school sports as their authentic selves, and the order told the DOJ to prosecute schools that allow trans students to play sports. Additionally, the order pressured all national and international governing sports bodies to also ban trans athletes.

President Joe Biden’s administration interpreted Title IX as a law prohibiting anti-trans discrimination since it’s impossible to discriminate on the basis of gender identity without taking sex into account. That is, banning trans girls from playing school sports but not cis girls, solely because of their sex assigned at birth, is the kind of discrimination that Title IX was intended to prevent, the previous administration believed.

The current administration is arguing that allowing trans girls to play school sports takes away “critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition” from cis girls, who are also “denied awards” if trans girls win. Trump and ICONS have baselessly claimed that trans athletes endanger girls and women’s safety, echoing transphobic smears that encourage violence against trans people and their allies.

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