--- title: "Wilhelmina Marie Wright | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/wilhelmina-m-wright" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-09" --- # Wilhelmina Marie Wright U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota · Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota - State: Minnesota - Role: Judge - Service status: senior - Last verified: 2026-07-25 ## Summary Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge. ## Biography ### Professional career - Judge, District Court, D. Minnesota, 2016-present - Judge, Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2012-present - Judge, Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2011-present - U.S. District Court (MN) — Judge, 2016–2024, nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate on January 19, 2016 - Minnesota Supreme Court — Associate Justice, 2012–2016, appointed by Governor Mark Dayton - Minnesota Court of Appeals — Judge, 2002–2012; held the role of Presiding Judge on the Special Redistricting Panel (2011–2012) - Judge, Ramsey County [Minnesota] District Court, 2000-2002 - Ramsey County District Court (MN) — Judge, 2000–2002 - Before joining the bench, Wright was Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota (1995–2000) - Law Clerk, Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1989-1991 - Currently an inactive senior United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota - She also held the role of a law clerk to Hon - American jurist and lawyer, best known as the first person in Minnesota history to serve in all three levels of the state judiciary — as a trial court judge, appellate court judge, and state supreme court justice ### Education - Harvard University — J.D. (1989) - cum laude — Yale University — 1986 - Yale University — B.A. ### Additional information - Wright announced her retirement from the federal bench on February 15, 2024, after 8 years as a federal trial judge. - Practitioner, 2011-2011 - Recipient of the U.S. Department of Justice Special Achievement Award (1997) and Director’s Award for Public Service (2000) - Private practice, Washington, D.C., 1991-1995 - Born 1964 in Norfolk, Virginia. - Date of birth: 1964-01-13 - handling complex economic fraud and violent crime cases, and earlier practiced at Hogan & Hartson, LLP in Washington, D.C. - focusing on education law. - First Black woman in Minnesota to serve as a federal judge - Lake Taylor High School - Birth place: Norfolk, VA ## Before you appear - Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed. - Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance. - Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding. ## Courtroom Rules ### courtroom technology Scope: courtwide Courtwide presentation-related guidance applies to this judge. Evidence excerpt: Our goal is to provide systems that are sophisticated, user-friendly and flexible. This document will provide a basic overview of the courtroom technology systems. Courtroom Technology Training and Testing Courtroom technology training and testing is available to ensure that your technology will properly function with the courtroom technology. [Courtroom Technology - Minneapolis Courtrooms 12W and 15](https://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/sites/mnd/files/Tech_Manual_Mpls12W_15_0.pdf) Source checked: 2026-07-24 ### courtroom technology Scope: courtwide Courtwide presentation-related guidance applies to this judge. Evidence excerpt: Our goal is to provide systems that are sophisticated, user-friendly and flexible. This document will provide a basic overview of the courtroom technology systems. Courtroom Technology Training and Testing Courtroom technology training and testing is available to ensure that your technology will properly function with the courtroom technology. [Courtroom Technology - St. Paul Courtrooms 7A, 7B, 7D, and 3B](https://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/sites/mnd/files/Tech_Manual_StP7ABD3B_0.pdf) Source checked: 2026-07-24 ### courtroom technology Scope: courtwide Courtwide presentation-related guidance applies to this judge. Evidence excerpt: Our goal is to provide systems that are sophisticated, user-friendly and flexible. This document will provide a basic overview of the courtroom technology systems. Courtroom Technology Training and Testing Courtroom technology training and testing is available to ensure that your technology will properly function with the courtroom technology. [Courtroom Technology - St. Paul Courtroom 7C](https://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/sites/mnd/files/Tech_Manual_StP7C_0.pdf) Source checked: 2026-07-24 ### civil remote testimony Scope: courtwide In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards. Evidence excerpt: For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location. [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### criminal recording and broadcasting Scope: courtwide Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception. Evidence excerpt: Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom. [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1394826) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1394826) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1394826) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8653/wilhelmina-marie-wright/) - [Courtroom Technology - Minneapolis Courtrooms 12W and 15](https://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/sites/mnd/files/Tech_Manual_Mpls12W_15_0.pdf) - [Courtroom Technology - St. Paul Courtrooms 7A, 7B, 7D, and 3B](https://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/sites/mnd/files/Tech_Manual_StP7ABD3B_0.pdf) - [Courtroom Technology - St. Paul Courtroom 7C](https://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/sites/mnd/files/Tech_Manual_StP7C_0.pdf) - [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) - [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8653/wilhelmina-marie-wright/) - [Wikidata: Wilhelmina Wright](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8002380) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/wilhelmina-m-wright", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/wilhelmina-m-wright", "name": "Wilhelmina Marie Wright | KnowJudges", "description": "Wilhelmina Marie Wright, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. 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Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-civil-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27. - [Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2025](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-8721a344fececced2257fe1d) — Criminal proceedings in United States District Courts; this conservative mapping does not distribute appellate-specific provisions to appellate judges. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-criminal-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.