US Senate confirms first Muslim woman federal judge

Nusrat Jahan Choudhury is the second Muslim American to be nominated for the bench by the Biden administration

Nusrat Choudhury speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Getty

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed Nusrat Jahan Choudhury as a life-tenured federal judge, making her the first Muslim woman and the first Bangladeshi American to serve in such a position.

The Senate confirmed her in a 50-49 vote for the US District for the Eastern District of New York, located in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Ms Choudhury, 46, is currently the legal director of the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“We congratulate Nusrat Choudhury on this well-earned accomplishment and wish her nothing but the best,” the ACLU's Illinois chapter said in a statement.

“Nusrat joins a proud tradition of legendary ACLU advocates, notably Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who step away from advocacy to don a black robe and defend our constitution.

“Nusrat’s tenure with the ACLU of Illinois is marked by her professionalism and undying commitment to advancing and protecting civil liberties.”

Chuck Schumer, a Democrat and the Senate Majority Leader at the time, last year recommended Ms Choudhury for nomination to President Joe Biden.

Ms Choudhury has spent the bulk of her legal career at the ACLU, a non-profit legal organisation, working on addressing racial profiling in the US, government surveillance of people of colour and programmes that targeted low-income Americans.

During her tenure with the ACLU, she worked on lawsuits that challenged airlines over the racial profiling of people who looked Arab as well as the New York Police Department's surveillance of Muslims and Muslim Americans after 9/11.

The ACLU said Ms Choudhury helped secure the first federal court ruling striking down the US government’s “No Fly List” procedures for violating due process, and she also filed litigation that challenged the NYPD’s profiling of Muslims for surveillance.

Her efforts resulted in a court-ordered settlement agreement that also revealed the FBI’s racial and ethnic mapping programme.

“Nusrat Choudhury is a legal rock star who has dedicated her career to racial justice,” Alliance for Justice president Rakim Brooks said in a statement.

“The dream would be to have a federal bench full of judges just like her – those that have advocated for everyday Americans, not just the wealthy and powerful.”

In 2021, the Senate confirmed the first Muslim life-tenured federal judge, Zahid Quraishi, the son of Pakistani immigrants, to a seat on the US District Court for the District of New Jersey.

He had strong bipartisan backing, with a 81-16 vote.

Ms Choudhury was confirmed by a very thin margin, and Senator Manchin, a Democrat, voted against her nomination.