DE Supreme Court Justice to Step Down after Nomination by President Biden to US Third Circuit Court of Appeals
Delaware Supreme Court Justice Tamika Montgomery-Reeves has informed Governor John Carney that she will step down from the bench in early February of 2023. She plans to accept her nomination by President Biden to the U-S Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Montgomery-Reeves received U-S Senate confirmation on December 12th. She served on the Delaware Court of Chancery from 2015 to 2019 when she was elevated to the Delaware Supreme Court.
Additional information from the DE Courts release:
Her departure from the Delaware Judiciary will coincide with President Biden signing her commission to the U.S. Third Circuit, which has not yet been set but is expected in early February.
Justice Montgomery Reeves was a trailblazer in the Delaware Judiciary. When she took office as a Vice Chancellor in Nov. 2015, after her appointment by Governor Jack Markell, she became the first Black woman (and the first Black person) to serve on the Delaware Court of Chancery. She again made history when she was elevated by Governor Carney to the Delaware Supreme Court in 2019, becoming the first Black person of any gender to serve on the state’s highest court.
Prior to her appointment, Justice Montgomery-Reeves was a partner in the Wilmington, Delaware, office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, focusing on corporate governance, navigation of corporate fiduciary duties, stockholder class action litigation, derivative litigation, and complex commercial litigation. Before that, Justice Montgomery-Reeves practiced in the securities and corporate governance department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York.
While in private practice, Justice Montgomery-Reeves served on a subcommittee of the Delaware Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission and on the Delaware Court of Chancery’s Rules Committee. She also received recognition for her contributions to pro bono service. In her community, Justice Montgomery-Reeves serves as a member of the Delaware Community Foundation board of irectors. Justice Montgomery-Reeves also served as a member of the Mother Teresa House, Inc., board of directors.
Justice Montgomery-Reeves graduated from the McDonnell-Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi in 2003. She received her law degree in 2006 from the University of Georgia School of Law. Justice Montgomery-Reeves served as a law clerk for Chancellor William B. Chandler of the Delaware Court of Chancery.
