Email This PageWilma Lewis ’78
Wilma Lewis ’78 has been nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a federal district court judge in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She is the first woman to serve as a federal judge in the Virgin Islands. This is the fourth presidential appointment for Lewis, who hails from the Virgin Islands. Lewis was the United States Attorney for Washington, D.C., from 1998 to 2001. Since 2009, she has served as the assistant secretary for land and minerals management in the U.S. Department of the Interior. From 1995 to 1998, Lewis was the inspector general for that department, the first African American to hold the position. Her many awards include the Janet Reno Torchbearer Award, Charlotte E. Ray Award, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Keepers Award, Bethune-Dubois Institute Award, and the National Black Prosecutors Association Founders’ Award. In 2003, Lewis was featured in Harvard Law Bulletin as one of 50 female graduates who used their legal education to “take them to extraordinary places.”
