Wilhelmina Wright

Wilhelmina Marie Wright (born 1964) is an American jurist and lawyer. She is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Wright is the first jurist in Minnesota history to have served in all three levels of the state judiciary, as a state district court judge, appellate court judge, and state supreme court justice. She then served as an active federal district court judge from 2016 to 2024. Wright was elected to a six-year term on the Harvard Board of Overseers in 2022.

Early life and education Wright was born in 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.

Career

Early legal career Wright served as a law clerk for Judge Damon Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1989 to 1991. In 1991, she began working at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, LLP, in Washington, D.C., where she took up cases involving U.S. public schools' opportunity, before joining the United States Attorney's Office in Minnesota in 1995. and in 2002 he appointed her to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, on which she served from September 3, 2002, to September 26, 2012. Her tenure began on September 27, 2012, On January 19, 2016, the Senate confirmed her nomination by a 58–36 vote, with 14 Republicans voting to confirm her. On November 30, 2023, it was announced that Wright would retire from the bench on February 15, 2024. On February 15, 2024, Wright assumed inactive senior status, even though she had not obtained the statutory service requirements: 65 years of age, ten years of Article III service, and a total of age and service years equal to 80.

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 executive Dan Schmechel. They have one daughter. Wright serves in 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. She is also a member of 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.