The White House announced Wednesday that Wilma Lewis, former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has been nominated to serve as a U.S. district judge in the Virgin Islands.
Lewis, a native of the Virgin Islands, was D.C.'s top prosecutor from 1998 to 2001. Following stints in private practice and at Freddie Mac, she has been the assistant secretary for land and minerals management in the U.S. Department of the Interior since 2009.
The Virgin Islands Bar Association pushed for Lewis’ nomination beginning in 2008, when Judge Raymond Finch announced his retirement, according to bar association President Richard Evangelista.
“We are very proud and elated that one of our own homegrown, local attorneys has been nominated,” Evangelista said in a telephone interview today.
Lewis is one of three new district court nominees up for Senate confirmation. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prior to her posting at the Department of the Interior, Lewis was managing associate general counsel for litigation at Freddie Mac from 2007 to 2008, at a time when the mortgage giant was navigating its financial meltdown.
Lewis was a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Washington office from 2001 to 2007.
"Wilma is one of the finest attorneys in the profession, and she is known for her integrity and wisdom. She will serve the district very well," said Antitrust Group chairman and Crowell & Moring Executive Board member Wm. Randolph Smith, in an e-mail today.
As U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Lewis increased the office’s focus on community-based prosecution programs and faced some criticism for not taking on enough high-profile federal cases.
Other judicial nominations announced on Wednesday include Nannette Jolivette Brown for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Nancy Torresen for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.
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