[2] Growing up, her mother had to advocate for her to receive equal education due to ongoing resistance to integration.

[3] She went on to study literature at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduating cum laude in 1986.

[5][6][7][8] Wright served as a law clerk for Judge Damon Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1989 to 1991.

[9] In 1991, she began working at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, LLP, in Washington, D.C., where she took up cases involving U.S. public schools' opportunity, before joining the United States Attorney's Office in Minnesota in 1995.

[9] Closer to home, she was a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and taught judicial accountability in other areas of the United States.

[6] As part of this position, Wright was the Special Redistricting Panel Presiding Judge between June 2011 and August 2012.

[4] After a hearing on July 22, 2015, her nomination was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 17 by voice vote.

[9] In January 2022, after Justice Stephen Breyer announced his intention to retire, Wright was mentioned as a possible nominee to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden.