Maxine Aldridge White (born 1951) is an American attorney and judge. She is the chief judge of the

Wisconsin Court of Appeals The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978 to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of appe ...

, and has served on the Court of Appeals in the

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

-based District I court since 2020. She is the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

woman to serve on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. White previously served 18 years as a

Wisconsin circuit court The Wisconsin circuit courts are the general trial courts in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. There are currently 69 circuits in the state, divided into 9 judicial administrative districts. Circuit court judges hear and decide both civil and crimina ...

judge in

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, containing about 1 ...

, and was chief judge for the 1st Judicial Administrative District from 2015 until her appointment to the Court of Appeals in 2020. Earlier in her career, she was a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Life and career

White was born in rural

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and raised in a family of

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

. White received her bachelor's degree from

Alcorn State University Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. ...

in 1973 and her master's degree from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in 1982. White served in the

office of the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...

before graduating from

Marquette University Law School Marquette University Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Mil ...

in 1985. From 1985 to 1992, White served as an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. White was the first

woman to serve as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. In 1992, White was appointed to the

Wisconsin Circuit Court The Wisconsin circuit courts are the general trial courts in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. There are currently 69 circuits in the state, divided into 9 judicial administrative districts. Circuit court judges hear and decide both civil and crimina ...

in Milwaukee County by then-Governor

Tommy Thompson Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941) is an American politician who served as the 19th United States secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2005 in the Presidency of George W. Bush, cabinet of President of the United State ...

, a Republican. White served as a deputy chief judge of the court prior to 2015. In 2015, the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the state judicial system of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. In addition to hearing appeals of lower Wisconsin court decisions, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also ...

appointed White as the court's chief judge. White is the first African-American chief judge in the court's history. As Chief Judge, White was responsible for securing a $4.5 million grant from the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

for reducing jail misuse. In 2019, a minority of Milwaukee County Judges petitioned the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent her being re-appointed to another term as Chief Judge, but the Supreme Court reaffirmed her appointment. In 2020, White was appointed to the

by Governor

Tony Evers Anthony Steven Evers ( ; born November 5, 1951) is an American politician and educator serving since 2019 as the 46th governor of Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 2009 to 2019 as Wisconsin's 26th superintendent of p ...

, a Democrat, succeeding the retiring Joan F. Kessler. Upon assuming office, White became the first African-American woman to serve on the Court of Appeals. In 2023, the incumbent chief judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, William W. Brash III, was defeated running for re-election. Subsequently, the Wisconsin Supreme Court appointed White to succeed him as chief judge of the Court of Appeals at the start of the new term, August 1, 2023.

References

External links

Judge Maxine Aldridge White
at Wisconsin Court System
Maxine White
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Maxine Aldridge 1951 births Living people People from Mississippi People from Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Wisconsin lawyers Wisconsin Court of Appeals judges Wisconsin circuit court judges Alcorn State University alumni University of Southern California alumni Marquette University Law School alumni African-American judges 20th-century Wisconsin state court judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American lawyers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American lawyers