Georgia’s appellate courts held a brief ceremony this afternoon to install a time capsule at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center, marking the official conclusion of the building project.
Supreme Court Chief Justice David E. Nahmias and Court of Appeals Vice Chief Judge Amanda H. Mercier placed the capsule—a 16x12x8-inch metal box filled with items from the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals—behind a commemorative bronze plaque near the front entrance of the building.
“The placement of this time capsule commemorates the completion of a project that broke ground in August 2017 and was dedicated in a ceremony on Feb. 11, 2020,” Chief Justice Nahmias said.
The items included in the time capsule represent life and court operations in the current decade.
“We have put in face masks, hand sanitizer, and Zoom photos to remind our successors of the challenges presented by COVID-19 and how our judiciary overcame the many, many consequences,” Vice Chief Judge Mercier said. “But we’ve also included sentimental tokens, like challenge coins and gavel pencils, all of which represent our traditions and unwavering commitment to the rule of law.”
Also included in the time capsule is a letter, penned by Chief Justice Nahmias to a future Chief Justice.
“I pray that, despite the passage of a century or more, you still feel blessed to be Georgians and Americans, that your lives still benefit from the tremendous opportunities offered here, and that your fellow citizens understand the important place the highest court in their State holds in its life and spirit,” he wrote.
The Nathan Deal Judicial Center is named after the former governor, who served from 2011 to 2019 and secured the funding and legislative support for its construction. It is the first state building in the history of Georgia that is devoted entirely to the judiciary. Georgia’s two appellate courts—the Supreme Court, the state’s highest court, and the Court of Appeals, the state’s intermediate appellate court—moved into the building in December 2019. The Georgia State-wide Business Court is also located inside the judicial center.
Designed and constructed to last a century, the Nathan Deal Judicial Center is a six-story, 215,000-square-foot building within walking distance of the State Capitol. It contains remnants of the white Georgia marble from the Georgia Archives building, which previously stood in its spot near the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Memorial Drive, as well as marble mined from the North Georgia town of Nelson.
