African Americans make up 21 percent of the population in the state of Delaware. Yet until now, the state has never had an African Americans on its highest court. Recently, Tamika Montgomery-Reeves became the state’s first Black Supreme Court justice. At age 38, she is also the youngest person to ever be appointed to the state’s highest court.
According to Ballotpedia, the online encyclopedia of American politics, 17 states have never had a Black person as a judge on their highest court. Delaware is the last of the former slave states to appoint an African American to the state’s highest court.
Since 2015, Justice Montgomery-Reeves has served as a vice chancellor on Delaware’s Court of Chancery. She was the first African American and the second woman to serve on that court. Prior to her appointment to the court, Montgomery-Reeves was a partner at the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati law firm, focusing on corporate governance, navigation of corporate fiduciary duties and corporate litigation.
Montgomery-Reeves is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Mississippi. She earned her law degree at the University of Georgia. She has also been a guest professor at the University of Georgia School of Law.
