The First Muslim Female Federal Judge in the US: Who Is Nusrat Choudhury?

The US Senate voted 50-49 to confirm Nusrat Choudhury's appointment as the federal judge.

The United States Senate voted to confirm Nusrat Choudhury’s appointment as the first female Muslim federal judge on Thursday, 15 June. Her appointment was confirmed on a 50-49 vote.

Choudhury, 46, will serve as a federal judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

This makes her the first Bangladeshi-American federal judge in US history.

Previously, she was the legal director of Illinois's American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Here, her work primarily focused on racial justice, criminal justice, policing, and government surveillance of Muslim communities and national security issues.

She served as the deputy director of the organisation's racial justice programme from 2018 until 2020, after which the Biden administration nominated her to the federal bench in January 2022.

Congratulations to Nusrat Choudhury, legal director of the ACLU of Illinois, on her confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Nusrat is a trailblazing civil rights lawyer and her confirmation will be an asset to our nation’s legal system.

— ACLU (@ACLU) June 15, 2023

"(Choudhury's) experience as a talented and dedicated civil rights litigator has prepared her to serve with integrity and professionalism on the federal bench, and she will follow the facts and administer justice with fairness and a deep respect for the rule of law."

Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer

However, Choudhury did face some pushback in her appointment.

Conservative Democrat Joe Manchin voted against her confirmation because he believed some of her past comments proved her bias against law enforcement.

“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.”

Nusrat Choudhury during a virtual ACLU event in March 2021

Choudhury has received the South Asian Bar Association of New York Access to Justice Award and the Edward Bullard Distinguished Alumnus Award of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

She graduated from Columbia University, Princeton University, and Yale Law School.