Wilhelmina Marie Wright (born January 13, 1964) is a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
of the
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapoli ...
. She is the only jurist in Minnesota's history to be State District Court Judge, Appellate Court Judge and state Supreme Court justice.
She was formerly an associate justice of the
Minnesota Supreme Court
The Minnesota Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center.
History
The court wa ...
, a judge of the
Minnesota Court of Appeals
The Minnesota Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It began operating on November 1, 1983.
Jurisdiction
The Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over most appeals from the state trial courts, inclu ...
, and a Judge of the
Minnesota District Court, Second Judicial District (Ramsey County).
Early life and education
Wright was born on January 13, 1964, in
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
Growing up, her mother had to advocate for her to receive equal education due to ongoing resistance to
integration
Integration may refer to:
Biology
*Multisensory integration
*Path integration
* Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome
*DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...
.
She went on to study literature at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, receiving a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree and graduating ''cum laude'' in 1986.
Wright received her
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
in 1989.
Career
Early legal career
Wright served as a
law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
for Judge
Damon Keith
Damon Jerome Keith (July 4, 1922 – April 28, 2019) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern Distr ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* Eastern District of Kentucky
* Western District of ...
from 1989 to 1991.
In 1991, she began working at the law firm of ''Hogan & Hartson, LLP'', in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, where Wright took up cases involving U.S. public schools' opportunity, before joining the
United States Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
's Office in Minnesota in 1995.
In this position, Wright was an Assistant Attorney for the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, where she took up cases involving illegal economic activity and violence.
Between 2000 and 2002, Wright was involved with the Minnesota State Bar Association Task Force on the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the Minnesota Judicial Council, and the Minnesota Courts Public Trust and Confidence Work Group, as a judge for the Ramsey County District Court.
Teaching
Wright has also taught others about the law. In Geneva, Switzerland, she worked for International Bridges to Justice training on the rule of law, and in Belgium and other areas in Switzerland she taught judicial selection.
Closer to home, she was a professor at the
University of St. Thomas School of Law and taught judicial accountability in other areas of the United States.
State judicial service
Governor
Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, actor, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2 ...
appointed her to the
Ramsey County District Court in 2000 and in 2002 he appointed her to the
Minnesota Court of Appeals
The Minnesota Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It began operating on November 1, 1983.
Jurisdiction
The Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over most appeals from the state trial courts, inclu ...
, on which she served from September 3, 2002, to September 26, 2012.
As part of this position, Wright was the Special Redistricting Panel Presiding Judge between June 2011 and August 2012.
Governor
Mark Dayton
Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1 ...
appointed Wright to the
Minnesota Supreme Court
The Minnesota Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center.
History
The court wa ...
on August 20, 2012. As the first
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
woman to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court, stakes were high.
In an August 2012 interview with Minnesota Lawyer Managing Editor Barbara Jones, Wright stated she had the opportunity to help the court "reflect the diversity of Minnesota." Her term began on September 27, 2012.
Her term ended in 2016.
In 2014, Wright was re-elected and served part of her term that was set to end in 2020, but she moved to serve federally.
Federal judicial service
In February 2015,
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...
and
Al Franken
Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...
recommended Wright to be on the federal bench.
On April 15, 2015, President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
nominated Wright to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, stating he was "confident she will serve on the federal bench with distinction."
She was appointed to the seat vacated by Judge
Michael J. Davis, Minnesota's first Black federal judge, who assumed
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...
effective on August 1, 2015.
Wright was ranked Unanimously Well Qualified for this federal position by the American Bar Association.
After a hearing on July 22, 2015, her nomination was reported by the
Senate Judiciary Committee
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...
on September 17, 2015, by a
voice vote
In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...
.
This made Wright the first African American woman appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
On January 19, 2016, the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
confirmed her nomination by a 58–36 vote, and the vote included 14 Republicans.
During the confirmation, Amy Klobuchar called the seat vacancy a "judicial emergency."
She took the oath of office for federal court on February 18, 2016.
Wright continues to serve as U.S. District Judge.
In January 2022, following Justice
Stephen Breyer
Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...
's announcement of his intention to retire, Wright was mentioned as one of the potential nominees for a Supreme Court appointment by President
Joe Biden.
Awards
Wright has earned numerous awards during her career, including the Myra Bradwell Award in 2006 from the Minnesota Women Lawyers, the Lena O. Smith Achievement Award from the Black Women Lawyers Network in 2004, the B. Warren Hart Award for Public Service from the Saint Paul Jaycees in 2001, and the Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans Award in 2000.
In 1997, Justice Wright also earned the United States Department of Justice Special Achievement Award and in 2000, she earned the United States Department of Justice Director's Award for Public Service.
In 2008, she joined the American Law Institute, and in 2019 she was given a Diversity and Inclusion Award from Minnesota Lawyer.
Personal life
Wright is married to
Ecolab
Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation that is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of applic ...
executive Dan Schmechel. They have one daughter.
Wright serves on the American Bar Association, the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Ramsey County Bar Association, the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers, and the National Association of Women Judges.
Wright is also a member of, among others, the William Mitchell College of Law Board of Trustees, the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs Advisory Council, the Minnesota Lawyer Advisory Board, and the Yale University Council.
See also
*
Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
With the advice and consent of the United States Senate, the president of the United States appoints the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court of the federal judiciary of the United States. Following his vi ...
*
List of African-American jurists
This list includes individuals self-identified as African Americans who have made prominent contributions to the field of law in the United States, especially as eminent judges or legal scholars. Individuals who may have obtained law degrees or ...
References
External links
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Wilhemina
1964 births
21st-century American judges
21st-century American women judges
Living people
African-American judges
Assistant United States Attorneys
Harvard Law School alumni
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
Justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court
Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
Minnesota Court of Appeals judges
Politicians from Norfolk, Virginia
United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama
Yale College alumni