Nusrat Choudhury 1st Bangladeshi American to be federal judge

United States President Joe Biden has nominated Bangladeshi-American Nusrat Jahan Choudhury to be the country’s first Muslim woman to serve as a federal judge. Biden on Wednesday nominated eight new judges.

Nusrat Choudhury, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, would be the first Bangladeshi American and second Muslim to ever serve as a federal judge.

She will serve as a federal judge in the Eastern District of New York, which has courthouses in Brooklyn and Central Islip.

Choudhury had previously worked since 2008 at the national ACLU, including as deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program.

Biden’s latest judicial nominees also included Arianna Freeman, a federal defender in Philadelphia who if confirmed to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals would become the first Black woman to serve on that court.

The eight nominees brought to 81 the number of federal appellate and district court picks Biden has made since taking office a year ago. The majority of his nominees have been women or people of color, reflecting his emphasis on diversifying the bench.

ARR