US President Joe Biden has nominated a Bangladeshi-American civil rights lawyer to serve as the country’s first Muslim female federal judge on January 19.
If confirmed as district judge for the Eastern District of New York, Nusrat Jahan Choudhury would become just the second Muslim judge, as well as the first Bangladeshi-American, to sit on a federal bench in the US.
The 46-year-old emerged as the top choice among Muslim American advocates last summer for the federal court post vacated by Judge Joseph F Bianco, who was appointed as a Court of Appeals judge on May 17, 2019.
Following a recommendation by Muslim Advocates, a civil rights organization, she was endorsed as a civil rights expert by Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer.
Muslim Advocates wrote to Schumer and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in July, highlighting Choudhury’s “stellar reputation” for advancing the rights of minority communities.