With the election of the first female vice president, Georgia’s first Black senator, and the first openly transgender health secretary, the US has reached some important milestones in terms of leadership diversity in the past year. This week, the country achieved another with the confirmation of the first Muslim American federal judge.
The Senate voted last week to confirm Zahid Quraishi, a former United States magistrate judge in New Jersey. Quraishi is the son of Pakistani immigrants and has also worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, assistant chief counsel at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and military prosecutor. He also achieved the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
In announcing his confirmation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Mr. Quraishi will be the first American Muslim in United States history to serve as an Article III federal judge. The third-largest religion in the United States, and he will become the first to ever serve as an Article III judge.”
Image source: Bay News
