Anne E. Thompson is the first Black to serve as a federal district court judge from New Jersey. She was nominated to the bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
Thompson served as a public defender and Lawrence Township municipal prosecutor before Trenton Mayor Arthur Holland appointed her to serve as a municipal court judge in 1972.
She was the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for New Jersey from 1984 to 2001, when she went on senior status.
This story was first published on January 21, 2019.