A judicial nominee of President Donald Trump admitted that he delivered a sermon in which he said that marriage was not intended for disabled people.
Justin R. Olson, a nominee to the U.S District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, was grilled Wednesday during a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
And the toughest line of questioning came from Trump’s own party.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana quizzed Olson about a sermon he delivered in 2015 when he was an ordained elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America.
“During that sermon, you said that marriage was not intended for all people, including, and I’m gonna quote your words, ‘our handicapped friends or our persons with physical disabilities that might prevent the robust marriage that we’re called to,’” Kennedy said.
“Did you say that?” the senator asked Olson.
“I think I did, senator, yes,” Olson replied.
“You believe folks with handicaps and physical disabilities should not be able to marry?” Kennedy asked.
Olson said “no,” and added that he was speaking about why some people do not get married, “not as a kind of reason why someone shouldn't.”
Kennedy then pressed Olson on a talk he gave to a church in 2022 where he said that “transgenderism, homosexuality, fornication, and all sorts of sexual perversions” was a form of hypocrisy that comes from “shame on the inside.”
Olson responded that he “did not recall the precise wording” but acknowledged it sounded “familiar.” He added that if he was confirmed, he would set aside his personal beliefs.
The GOP senator also asked Olson about another church talk he delivered in 2015 in which he said God “has called wives to be subject to their husband” and “serve good of your husband and support his calling.”
“You believe Christian marriage provides that women have to be subservient to their husbands?” Kennedy asked.
Olson said he was “describing our church’s understanding of what Christian marriage ought to look like.” He said had been quoting the Bible, and added: “I believe every word of the Bible.”
Trump tapped Olson, a lawyer at Kroger Gardis & Regas, last month. The president said Olson “has been fighting tirelessly to keep men out of women’s sports” in his announcement.
Olson, along with other lawyers, has been representing former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines and other current and former college athletes in a lawsuit challenging now-rescinded National Collegiate Athletic Association policies that allowed transgender women to compete in women's sports as long as they met testosterone limits on a sport-by-sport basis.
Reuters contributed reporting.
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