WASHINGTON—Upon the news of the passing of Ted Olson, John Malcolm, vice president for The Heritage Foundation’s Institute for Constitutional Government, made the following statement: 

“We at Heritage are saddened by the loss of Ted Olson. Ted was one of the most preeminent appellate lawyers and Supreme Court advocates of his generation, arguing many significant legal cases before the High Court.    
 
“He was lead counsel for President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 2000 election, including arguing Bush v. Gore, and was a founding member of The Federalist Society.  In addition to a distinguished career in private practice, Ted served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel from 1981 to 1984 and as Solicitor General of the United States from 2001 to 2004.  

“I was at the Department of Justice on September 11, 2001, as was Ted.  Nobody who was around then will forget the fortitude that Ted exhibited that day and in the ensuing days after receiving two brief telephone calls that morning from his wife Barbara, who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, moments before it crashed into the Pentagon.   

“Ted Olson led a consequential life. May he rest in peace.”