David E. Nahmias
Supreme Court of Georgia
Justice David E. Nahmias was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia on August 13, 2009 by Governor Sonny Perdue. Prior to his appointment, Justice Nahmias (pronounced “NAH-mee-iss”) served as the United States Attorney in Atlanta from December 2004 until resigning to accept the appointment as a Justice. In November 2010, Justice Nahmias won a statewide campaign for election to a full 6-year term with 67% of the vote in the runoff, after receiving more than one million votes, winning 151 counties, and receiving 48% of the vote against two opponents in the general election.
Justice Nahmias was born in Atlanta on September 11, 1964. He attended Briarcliff High School and was the state's STAR student in 1982. He attended Duke University, where he graduated second in his class and summa cum laude in 1986, and Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1991 and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review (along with President Barack Obama). Justice Nahmias then clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States.
After practicing with the law firm of Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C., in January 1995, Justice Nahmias joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta as a federal prosecutor. He worked extensively on the investigation of the Centennial Olympic Park and subsequent bombings that resulted in the indictment of Eric Robert Rudolph. He later worked in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, where he successfully prosecuted a Georgia state senator on corruption charges and served as co-lead prosecutor on a major investigation of public corruption in the City of Atlanta and Fulton County governments.
Shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Justice Nahmias returned to Washington and became one of the U.S. Justice Department's leading terrorism prosecutors.
- Justice
- Supreme Court of Georgia
- - Current
- United States Attorney
- Northern District of Georgia
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- As U.S. Attorney, Justice Nahmias supervised the prosecution of Eric Rudolph, securing his guilty plea in 2005 to all four bombings in exchange for life prison sentences with no chance of parole. In 2006, Justice Nahmias oversaw the case against former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, who was convicted of tax evasion charges and sentenced to 30 months in prison. Justice Nahmias also led the prosecution of three Atlanta Police narcotics officers who conspired to violate civil rights by falsifying search warrants, resulting in the police shooting death of 92-year old Kathryn Johnston in November 2006. That case led to significant reforms in the Atlanta Police Department. In addition, Justice Nahmias oversaw the firearms case against entertainer Clifford Harris ("T.I.") and worked extensively on the first prosecutions in Georgia for providing material support to terrorism.
- Deputy Assistant Attorney General
- Office of Attorney General for the Criminal Division
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- responsible for supervision of the Counterterrorism Section; the Fraud Section, which handled policy and litigation matters including corporate, securities, and health care fraud cases and the Enron Task Force; the Appellate Section; and the Capital Case Unit
- Counsel
- Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division
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- coordinated the investigation and prosecution of terrorist activity around the United States and in numerous foreign countries
- Federal Prosecutor
- U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta
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- He worked extensively on the investigation of the Centennial Olympic Park and subsequent bombings that resulted in the indictment of Eric Robert Rudolph. He later worked in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, where he successfully prosecuted a Georgia state senator on corruption charges and served as co-lead prosecutor on a major investigation of public corruption in the City of Atlanta and Fulton County governments.
- Attorney
- Hogan & Hartson
- Harvard Law School
- J.D. (1991) | Law
- Honors: magna cum laude
- Activities: editor of the Harvard Law Review (along with President Barack Obama)
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- Duke University
- Undergraduate degree (1986)
- Honors: second in his class and summa cum laude
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- “On the Rise” Georgia attorney (top lawyer under age 40)
- Fulton County Daily Report
- Superior Performance by an Assistant U.S. Attorney
- Justice Department
- 100 Most Influential Atlantans
- Atlanta Business Chronicle
- 2005-2008
