Thomas, born in the Pinpoint community near Savannah, was nominated as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President George Bush and took his seat on Oct. 23, 1991. Thomas has also served as Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. He is the member of the United States Supreme Court assigned to the Eleventh Circuit of Appeals by the Chief Justice pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 42. The Eleventh Circuit consists of the states of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
The dedication took place on the front steps of the Judicial Center, located on Hunter Avenue.
Since the opening of the Judicial Center, the county has grown from 62,001 people in the 2000 census to approximately 108,000 in 2017. More than 150,000 people entered the building in 2017, according to counts from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office. Along with that growth, the demand on the county’s court system has expanded as well.
In the 2011 Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax referendum, county voters approved a 28,000 square foot expansion of the Judicial Center. The expansion will cost an estimated $12.3 million and is expected to be finished later this summer.