He was Executive Secretary to Governor of Connecticut Simeon E. Baldwin from 1911 to 1913.
[1] Thomas was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson on October 16, 1913, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut vacated by Judge James Perry Platt.
He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 17, 1913, and received his commission the same day.
[1] Thomas resigned during an investigation of his financial affairs by a federal grand jury, prompted by his connections to the bribery case of another federal judge, Martin Thomas Manton.
He claimed to be suffering from nervous disorders which friends attributed to the circumstances under which he had been questioned by a federal grand jury.