Governor Sonny Perdue announced on Thursday the appointment of U.S. Attorney David Nahmias to the Supreme Court of Georgia. Mr. Nahmias has served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia since Dec. 1, 2004.
“David has the ability to serve this state well and is someone who we can trust to guard this country’s bedrock principles,” said Gov. Perdue. “His integrity, commitment to public service and strict adherence to the law as written will make him an excellent Justice.”
As U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Mr. Nahmias served as the chief federal law enforcement officer in the region and managed approximately 80 lawyers who represent the United States in all criminal and civil litigation in federal court in the district.
While serving as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Nahmias served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. He has also received appointments to serve as Chairman of the Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee and the White Collar Crime Subcommittee.
“I am deeply honored and humbled by Governor Perdue’s selection of me to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, a position that is so important to protecting the rule of law and the democratic system of government in this state,” Mr. Nahmias said. “Decisions by our Supreme Court that properly apply the laws as enacted through the democratic process are vital to the safety and prosperity of our citizens.”
Mr. Nahmias graduated second in his class at Duke University and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation he clerked for U.S. Circuit Court Judge Laurence Silberman and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
He then worked as an appellate lawyer at the law firm of Hogan and Hartson with now Chief Justice John Roberts before returning to Atlanta to serve in the United States Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Nahmias returned to Washington to serve in the area of counterterrorism in the Department of Justice, after Sept. 11, 2001. As Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S., he oversaw the prosecutions of Zacarias Moussaoui, John Walker Lindh, Richard Reid and many others.
In 2004, Mr. Nahmias returned home after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Among the prosecutions that he has guided during his time here in Atlanta include Centennial Park bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell and the Neal Street police shooting case.
Mr. Nahmias was recommended by some of the most highly regarded legal minds in the nation including Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Scalia, Judge Silberman, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.
A native Georgian, he lives in Dunwoody with his wife, Cathy and their two sons, Steven and Michael.