Theodore B. Olson, Conservative Lawyer Who Took Up Liberal Causes, Dies at 84

Theodore B.Olson, a leading Supreme Court litigator who built a sturdy reputation as a conservative power lawyer during the 1980s and ’90s, and then surprised colleagues and foes alike when he took up traditionally liberal causes like gay marriage and the children of undocumented immigrants, died on Wednesday in Fairfax, Va.

He was 84.Lady Booth Olson, his wife, said the cause of death, in a hospital, was a stroke.Mr.Olson’s conservative bona fides were unquestionable.

On the wall in his office hung a photograph of President Ronald Reagan, under whom he led the Office of Legal Counsel; it carries the inscription “With Heartfelt Thanks” — presumably for leading fights on Republican priorities like rolling back affirmative action, school busing and government regulations.Nearby was a medal given to him by the Defense Department, in honor of work he did as solicitor general under President George W.Bush, including defending the president’s broad claims to executive power following the Sept.

11 attacks — during which Mr.Olson’s wife Barbara Olson was killed on the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon.He was a founding member of the Federalist Society, the influential conservative legal group, and a leading figure in many conservative legal triumphs of the 2000s, including Bush v.

Gore (2000) and Citizens United (2010).It was therefore a shock to many when, in 2009, Mr.Olson signed on to a lawsuit against the state of California over Proposition 8, a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage that had passed in 2008.At first, some gay-rights activists accused him of taking on the case in order to sabotage it, while opponents began to flood his inbox with homophobic emails.

Mr.Olson stuck with it, insisting that defending gay marriage was consistent with his brand of small-government conservatism.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify...