Nusrat Choudhury was confirmed Thursday as a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, making history as the first Muslim woman and the first Bangladeshi American to join the federal judicial bench.
President Joe Biden nominated the civil rights attorney in January 2022, along with seven other federal judicial nominees, who, the White House said, “continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s court reflects the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a court – both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.”
Zahid Quraishi, district judge for the District of New Jersey and the first Muslim American federal judge in U.S. history, was also appointed by Biden and confirmed in 2021.
Choudhury currently serves as a legal director for the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she has pushed for police reform with a focus on litigating discriminatory practices. Prior to that post, she served from 2008 to 2020 at the national ACLU office, including seven years as deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program.