THEODORE B. OLSON ENDORSES JOHN MCCAIN FOR PRESIDENT

U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today announced that former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson has endorsed John McCain for president. Mr. Olson will serve as Co-Chairman of the McCain Judicial Advisory Committee.

"I have long admired John McCain for his courage, character, and integrity," said Mr. Olson. "He is the candidate best prepared to lead as commander in chief from day one. John McCain has a deep-rooted conservative philosophy and I trust him to appoint strict constructionists, like Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito, to judicial positions."

John McCain thanked Mr. Olson for his support, stating, "Ted Olson is among our nation's most distinguished experts on the rule of law. I am honored to have his support, and I look forward to his counsel and leadership on judicial issues."

Mr. Olson is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Born in Chicago and raised in California, Mr. Olson earned his undergraduate degree at the University of the Pacific and his law degree from Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Olson served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan Administration Department of Justice. He thereafter returned to private law practice before being appointed in 2001 as Solicitor General of the United States in the George W. Bush Administration, returning again to private practice in 2004. He also served as a member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2006 until January of this year. Mr. Olson has argued 48 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.