Olson played a pivotal role in striking down affirmative action and securing George W. Bush’s 2000 victory, but called fighting for same-sex marriage ‘the highlight of my life.’

A renowned Supreme Court litigator, he argued the Republican side in Bush v. Gore, but later championed gay rights and undocumented children.

WASHINGTON — Theodore B. Olson, the conservative attorney who helped win the right to gay marriage in California, died Wednesday at age 84. Olson was a good-spirited and gracious advocate who won landmark conservative rulings from the Supreme Court.

Theodore Olson, the iconoclastic appellate lawyer behind George W. Bush’s victory before the Supreme Court in 2000, died on Wednesday. He was 84.

Former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the conservative lawyer who argued the Bush 2000 recount case, has died at 84. Olson also served as private counsel to former President Ronald Reagan.

Prominent conservative attorney Theodore Olson, who argued the 2000 Florida vote-recount case on behalf of President George W. Bush, has died at 84.

A legal luminary of the right, Mr. Olson frustrated social conservatives in his legal fights supporting same-sex marriage and the children of undocumented immigrants.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who served two Republican presidents as one of the country’s best known conservative lawyers and successfully argued on behalf of same-sex marriage, has died

Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, one of the country's best-known conservative lawyers who served two Republican presidents and successfully argued on behalf of same-sex marriage, died Wednesday.

The conservative lawyer also was at the center of the 2000 election case that eventually led to George W. Bush’s victory over Al Gore.