Wright, Wilhelmina, 1964-
Wilhelmina Marie Wright (born January 13, 1964) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. 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, a judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and a Judge of the Minnesota District Court, Second Judicial District (Ramsey County).
Wright was born on January 13, 1964 in Norfolk, Virginia. Growing up, her mother had to advocate for her to receive equal education due to ongoing resistance to integration. She went on to study literature at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduating cum laude in 1986. Wright received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1989.
Wright served on the Sixth Circuit United States Court of Appeals as a law clerk for Judge Damon Keith. In 1991, she began working at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, LLP, in Washington, D.C., where Wright took up cases involving U.S. public schools' opportunity, before joining the United States Attorney'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.
Governor Jesse Ventura appointed her to the Ramsey County District Court in 2000 and in 2002 he appointed her to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, 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 appointed Wright to the Minnesota Supreme Court on August 20, 2012. As the first African American 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.
In February 2015, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken recommended Wright to be on the federal bench. On April 15, 2015, President Barack Obama 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 took senior status effective 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 on September 17, 2015 by voice vote. 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 voted 58–36 in favor of confirmation, 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.
