Appearing on Fox News Sunday,
Ted Olson said he is 'reasonably confident' the Supreme Court will
overturn California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.
Olson is part of the legal team who
challenged the constitutionality of Proposition 8. On Wednesday, a
federal judge found the ban violated the constitutional rights of gay
and lesbian couples who wish to marry.
Citing the “overwhelming evidence”
his team put forth during a 13-day trial in January, Olson said he's
“reasonably confident” the high court will side with his clients,
two gay couples who have been denied the right to marry because of
the gay marriage ban.
Gay rights advocates have cheered the
decision and praised the legal team that won the case, but gay rights
groups had previously questioned Olson's motives.
The 69-year-old former Bush
administration solicitor general says he's a staunch conservative.
Early on in the case, rumblings that
Olson was preparing to throw the case – putting the gay marriage
movement behind possibly decades – were frequently overheard.
But Olson has argued that gay marriage
is a conservative value, noting that he's in favor of keeping the
government out of people's private lives.
Also on Sunday's broadcast, Olson
insisted the Prop 8 ruling was not an example of judicial activism,
as critics have charged.
“It is not judicial activism, it is
judicial responsibility in its most classic sense,” he said.
In the wake of the ruling, social
conservatives have renewed calls to approve a federal amendment that
defines marriage as a heterosexual union. Such a measure would
trump a pro-gay marriage decision by the Supreme Court and repeal gay
marriage laws already approved in five states and the District of
Columbia.