JMU to host Justice John Charles Thomas

James Madison University President Jonathan R. Alger will host Justice John Charles Thomas, a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, for a Madison Vision Series event on campus Feb. 7. Thomas will discuss the past, present and future of Virginia’s democracy within the context of his own experience as an attorney and as the first African-American justice of the state’s highest court. 

Thomas is a senior partner at the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, where he is a member of the appellate practice group. Thomas is also a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, which handles disputes involving violations of the World Anti-Doping Code for all Olympic sports, the Tour de France, FIFA and LPGA. Thomas is also a poet who has performed his own works at Carnegie Hall in New York City, accompanied by professors and students from The College of William & Mary, where he served on the Board of Visitors for more than 11 years.

The lecture is free and open to the public and will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Memorial Hall Auditorium.

Madison Vision Series is a lecture series honoring James Madison's conviction that cultivating an informed and educated citizenry is essential to the health of our republican democracy. The series, presented by the Office of the President, in conjunction with the Madison Center for Civic Engagement, brings scholars, thinkers and leaders of all kinds to campus for lively explorations of issues facing our society. The series is supported by the Madison Forever Vision Fund.