Nusrat Jahan Choudhury was appointed on Thursday as the first female Muslim federal judge for the Eastern District of New York.
The 46-year-old Bangladeshi-Amercian’s appointment was confirmed on a 50-49 vote in the United States Senate.
Democrat Chuck Schumer in a statement said, “Nusrat’s experience as a talented and dedicated civil rights litigator has prepared her to serve with integrity and professionalism on the federal bench. She will follow the facts and administer justice with fairness and a deep respect for the rule of law.”
“CONFIRMED: Nusrat Choudhury to be a US District Judge for the Eastern District of New York! She’s an ACLU Legal Director and I was proud to recommend her to @POTUS. She makes history as the first Bangladeshi American and first Muslim American woman to serve as a federal judge,” Chuck tweeted.
During her appointment, Nusrat faced pushback from Republicans who voted against her confirmation owing to her past biased comments in March 2021 during a virtual ACLU event.
“As a Muslim young girl of colour here in the Chicago area, race was a part of my reality. It led to police stops that shouldn’t have ever happened. It led to family members facing problems at airports, and led to what I saw around me, which was dramatic residential segregation and different opportunities for people of colour than for white people in the city of Chicago,” she said.
Nusrat began her professional career as the legal director of Illinois’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Her work focused on racial justice, criminal justice, policing, government surveillance of Muslim communities and national security issues.
From 2018 to 2020, she served as deputy director of the organisation’s racial justice program. Later in 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden nominated her to the federal bench.
In 2017, Nusrat received the Edward Bullard Distinguished Alumnus Award from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public.
She graduated from Yale Law School, Princeton University, and Columbia University.
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