By Jeremy M. Lazarus

The son of humble tobacco factory workers is about to reach a new pinnacle in his legal career.

On July 9, Judge Roger L. Gregory will become the chief judge of the powerful 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.

As he modestly describes his new role among the court’s 15 judges and two senior judges, he will be “first among equals.”

Known as easygoing and personable, Judge Gregory will make history again when he ascends to the appellate court’s top post — which he will hold for seven years — just a week before he celebrates his 63rd birthday July 17.

Just as he was the first African-American to join the once all-white court in 2000, he will be the first African-American to be the chief judge since the court’s founding 125 years ago in 1891.

“I feel humble and privileged that I was the first African-American to serve on this court, and now I will be the first African-American chief judge,” he told the Free Press.

In his new role, Judge Gregory will take on more administrative duties in the circuit that includes Virginia and four other states — Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia. He said his goal is “to help the court run as smoothly as possible for my good, dear colleagues.”

Along with the new title, Judge Gregory will chair the circuit’s judicial council and oversee the 160 judges in the five states who serve in the lower courts, including the districts courts and bankruptcy courts.

He also will represent the 4th Circuit on the Judicial Conference of the United States, which the U.S. Supreme Court’s chief justice heads and sets policies and rules for the federal judiciary.

He will get an extra law clerk to assist him, but he said the title does not include additional salary, now $213,300 a year for an appeals court.

He also wants to do more to educate the public about the history and role of the court and the importance of the role played by courts, perhaps the element of government “the public knows the least about.”

He envisions creating space in the court’s home base in the Lewis F. Powell Jr. Courthouse at 10th and Main streets in Downtown where people can come and learn about the court, its judges and the important cases it has dealt with.

Judge Gregory views courts as a bulwark of protection for people and the Constitution that “guarantees you the right to pursue your dreams and build a positive life in a constructive way.”

He also wants to do more to call attention to the court’s annual ceremony at which immigrants become American citizens.

His rise to chief judge is part of the change to the court that hears appeals from the nine federal district courts within the 4th Circuit.

Once considered the nation’s most conservative court, the 4th Circuit has long since shed the label since the arrival of Judge Gregory and 10 other judges in the years since 2000, seven of whom are appointees of President Obama. The newer members include the court’s first Latino, Judge Albert Diaz, and the first African-American woman to serve on the court, Judge Allyson K. Duncan.

The court now includes four African-Americans including Judge Gregory: Judge Duncan of North Carolina, Judge James A. Wynn Jr. of North Carolina and senior Judge Andre M. Davis of Maryland.

Judge Gregory, who will succeed Judge William B. Traxler Jr. of South Carolina as chief judge, has helped brake the conservative drift of the court, which divides the members into three-judge panels to hear appeals from lower courts.

His influence on the court’s direction has been felt in the hundreds of opinions that he has written or joined in the nearly 16 years he has served.

Just this week, he breathed new life into a Muslim woman’s lawsuit alleging that she was wrongfully discharged based on discrimination because of her faith and circumstances. He did so by reversing a lower court’s ruling that threw out the case. Judge Gregory wrote the opinion for a unanimous appeals court panel finding the district judge got it wrong.

In opinions he authored or joined, he has checked police unbridled use of traffic stops as an excuse to search for drugs and contraband, and restricted lower court judges from imposing long, but not fully justified prison terms.

He was part of the panel that overturned bans on same-sex marriage in Virginia and the four other states in the circuit, an opinion that went into effect in October 2014 when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

In one of his most influential opinions, Judge Gregory wrote the panel opinion that upheld Obamacare, by finding crucial tax subsidies in the Affordable Care Act are legal, a position later upheld by the nation’s highest court.

Judge Gregory did not have to lobby or seek the votes of his colleagues to become chief. He was in line based on his seniority and the fact that he is younger than 64 years, six months.

While unique for the 4th Circuit, African-American chief judges of federal appellate courts are no longer unusual. Of the 13 U.S. circuit courts of appeal, three — the 3rd, 5th and 6th circuits based in Philadelphia, New Orleans and Cincinnati, respectively — currently have African-American chief judges.

He also is not the first Richmond area resident to be a chief judge. The first was the late Spottswood W. Robinson III, a pioneering federal judge who became chief judge of the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals in 1981.

Judge Gregory doesn’t mind that he will be nearly 70 when his term as chief judge ends in 2023.

He loves being a judge.

“It’s wonderful work. It’s intellectually stimulating and sometimes has national consequences,” said the jurist, who was born in Philadelphia and grew in Petersburg.

His hope is that as chief judge he will “not become bogged down in the administrative work” so that he can fully participate in hearing cases. The court receives about 5,000 new cases a year and hears arguments in about 450.

The judges all know that their opinions count as the U.S. Supreme Court considers appeals in fewer than 100 cases a year from across the country.

One thing about Judge Gregory is that he never forgets where he came from. As he prepares to become chief judge, “I think about my parents. They worked in a tobacco factory and had very little formal education. They got up early and worked more time to earn wages so I could earn letters.”

He remains a bit awed “that a little kid from segregated Petersburg could be in the 4th Circuit Court. It’s humbling.”

Judge Gregory laid the groundwork for his future at Virginia State University. After graduating summa cum laude, he went on to earn his law degree at the University of Michigan.

He first joined a corporate law firm in Michigan and then returned to the Richmond area to become an associate at Hunton & Williams, the area’s largest firm at the time.

In 1982, he teamed with a future governor, L. Douglas Wilder, to form the law firm Wilder & Gregory.

When Mr. Wilder was elected lieutenant governor in 1985, Judge Gregory led the firm until 2000, when President Bill Clinton nominated him for the court. When Republican senators blocked the nomination, President Clinton defied them by naming Judge Gregory to the 4th Circuit with a recess appointment in December 2000.

In early 2001, Judge Gregory became the first jurist to be nominated by two presidents, when new President George W. Bush also nominated him to the court. This time, the U.S. Senate confirmed him to a lifetime appointment. Again, his confirmation came in his birthday month of July.

Judge Gregory is the father of three daughters. Last November, he married Velda Edwards. His first wife of 29 years, Carla L. Gregory, died in 2009.

He also is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, also known as The Boulé.

He has received varied awards for his public service and also serves on the boards of the University of Richmond and the John Marshall Foundation.