[1] During his time as attorney general, he represented the state in a case challenging Georgia's abortion laws, Doe v. Bolton, which was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on the same day as another more famous abortion case, Roe v. Wade.

Bolton also served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1949 to 1965 and Judge of the Criminal Court of Griffin from 1952 to 1965.

[2][6] In 1943, Bolton attended the Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army infantry.

He served in the European theater of World War II, and was wounded in action at a river crossing in Belgium on April 6, 1945.

Bolton died on December 1, 1997, in Griffin, due to complications from his injuries in World War II.