WILMINGTON Del.
For Gregory M. Sleet, becoming chief judge of Delaware’s federal court is the latest in a career full of milestones.
Sleet was Delaware’s first black U.S. attorney and the first black appointed to the federal bench in the state. On July 1, the 56-year-old jurist will begin a seven-year term as the first black chief judge in the history of Delaware’s federal court.
Breaking barriers is a family tradition of sorts: Sleet’s father, Moneta Sleet Jr., was the first black to win a Pulitzer Prize for photography.
Sleet told a Tuesday meeting of about 130 members of the Federal Bar Association of Delaware that after almost nine years on the bench, he finally knows “how to wear the robe.”
Sleet will succeed Chief Judge Sue L. Robinson, the first woman to hold that position.
