John Charles Thomas (jurist)

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In 1983, John Charles Thomas became the first Black and, at 32, the youngest person ever appointed to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Judge Thomas graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American government in 1972. He attended the University of Virginia School of Law and received his law degree in 1975.

Judge Thomas became a member of the Virginia Supreme Court and spent 6.5 years on the bench before resigning. He was succeeded by Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr., who later became the court's first black chief justice. Judge Thomas now practices law in Richmond, Virginia as part of the Hunton & Williams LLP law firm.

In 1995, he received the NAACP’s Lifetime Image Award.

In 2005, Judge Thomas was named a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The members of the Court include lawyers and former jurists from around the world. CAS is an independent arbitral institution created in 1983 to settle sports-related disputes involving drug violations and rules of international sports federations. It hears cases arising from most world-class sporting competition and has global jurisdiction. The Court has offices in Lausanne, Switzerland; Sydney, Australia; and New York City, and establishes ad hoc offices in Olympic host cities, as required.