Wilhelmina M. Wright, Associate Justice 2012-2016

Wilhelmina M. Wright served as an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 2012 until she was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota in 2016

Wilhelmina Marie Wright was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1964. She attended Yale University, graduating in 1986, with honors, in Literature. She received her juris doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1989.

After law school, from 1989-1991, Justice Wright was a law clerk for the Honorable Damon J. Keith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She then practiced with the Washington, DC, law firm of Hogan & Hartson, LLP from 1991-1995. In the education and litigation practice groups, she primarily represented school districts across the nation seeking to enhance educational opportunities for public school students.

In 1995, her next position brought her to Minnesota as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, where she represented the United States in complex economic fraud cases and violent crime cases in the United States District Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She was awarded the United States Department of Justice Special Achievement Award in 1997 and the United States Department of Justice Director's Award for Public Service in 2000.

In 2000, she was appointed to the Ramsey County bench by Governor Jesse Ventura. She has served as a member of the Minnesota Judicial Council, the Minnesota Courts Public Trust and Confidence Work Group, and the Minnesota State Bar Association Task Force on the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Governor Ventura then appointed her to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, where she served from Sept. 3, 2002, to Sept. 26, 2012. She replaced Sam Hanson in Seat 4 (At Large). During her time on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, Justice Wright served as Presiding Judge on the Special Redistricting Panel from June 2011 to August 2012.

Wilhelmina Wright was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court by Governor Mark Dayton, where she served from 2012 to 2016. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on April 15, 2015 to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 19, 2016. She took the federal court oath of office on February 18, 2016 and served on the court for 8 years. She retired from the Federal bench in February 2024.  

She is the only person in Minnesota to have served on the state District Court, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court and Federal Court.