U.S. President Joe Biden has named Bangladeshi-American Nusrat Jahan Choudhury the first Muslim woman to act as a federal judge in the United States. If Choudhury’s nomination is confirmed, she would be only the second Muslim appointed authority. She will be the first Bangladeshi-American to sit on a government seat in the United States – drew the most attention among the eight candidates named Wednesday in Biden’s most recent round of candidates chosen to mirror his promise of broadening the legal executive.
Choudhury rose to prominence among Muslim American supporters the previous summer as the top choice for one of New York’s government court openings; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer appointed her as a specialist in Civil liberties and liberties. According to USA Today, Muslim Advocates, a public social liberties organization, wrote in a July letter to Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand that Choudhury has gained notoriety for advancing minority networks’ freedoms, and her selection would make essential history.
Choudhury, 44, has a heavenly record of service with the celebrated American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, which bills itself as “the world’s largest public interest law office,” working across the entire spectrum of social equality and everyday freedoms. She is presently the Legal Director of the ACLU’s Illinois chapter, where she oversees a group that works to advance social equality and common liberties in Illinois. Nusrat has been driving change in the overall criminal set of laws and policing for a long time. She has led a case to protect settlers from dangerous detention conditions. She advises local community associations authorizing a government agreement announcement to change Chicago police examples of excessive power. Her organization promotes First Amendment liberties, government transparency, change in the overall criminal set of laws and policing, voting rights, access to regenerative medical services, orientation value, and the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals, individuals in prisons and correctional facilities, etc. Nusrat previously worked as the Deputy Director of the ACLU’s public Racial Justice Program, as a staff lawyer in the ACLU’s National Security Project, and as a Marvin M. Karpatkin Fellow with the organization.
Nusrat led efforts at the ACLU to challenge racial profiling and illegal stop and search, the targeting of minorities for surveillance without evidence of wrongdoing, and practices that unfairly reject people because they are poor. Her counter-practices that excessively leave individuals for neediness without prior court hearings, consideration of capacity to pay, or legal portrayal changed practices in Georgia, Mississippi, Washington, and South Carolina. She has gotten general direction from the American Bar Association and other organizations to advance decency and equal treatment of the rich and poor in courts.
She also obtained the first administrative court ruling, which invalidated the U.S. government’s No Fly List procedures for failing to provide fair treatment. She documented prosecution to challenge the NYPD’s inappropriate and prejudicial profiling of Muslims for reconnaissance purposes, resulting in a court-ordered settlement agreement, and obtain freely available reports about the FBI’s racial and ethnic planning program. She clerked for Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Barrington D. Parker and Southern District of New York Judge Denise Cote. She has received the South Asian Bar Association of New York Access to Justice Award and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs’ Edward Bullard Distinguished Alumnus Award. As per her profile on the ACLU website, Nusrat is a graduate of Columbia University, Princeton University, and Yale Law School.
Background About Nusrat Jahan Choudhury:
According to the ACLU of Illinois’ website, “before joining the ACLU of Illinois, Nusrat worked as the Deputy Director of the public ACLU Racial Justice Program, a staff lawyer in the ACLU National Security Project, and a Marvin M. Karpatkin Fellow.”
Choudhry’s ACLU profile also mentions that she has worked on several issues important to the American Muslim community, including:
- Assisting in obtaining “the primary government court administering striking down the United States government’s No Fly List methods for disregarding fair treatment.”
- Documenting “a lawsuit to challenge the NYPD’s ridiculous and oppressive profiling of Muslims for observation. It resulted in a court-ordered settlement agreement and to obtain freely available reports about the FBI’s racial and ethnic planning program.”
- “Progressing social equality and common liberties” and “First Amendment rights, government transparency, changes in the overall criminal set of laws, and policing voting rights.”
- ” Driving “suit to shield outsiders from perilous detention conditions and serves as insight for neighbourhood associations.” authorizing a government agreement announcement to change Chicago police examples of excessive power.”
- Proposing “efforts to oppose racial profiling and unlawful stop and search, the targeting of minorities for reconnaissance without proof of wrongdoing, and practices that disproportionately rebuff individuals for being poor.”
Other new nominees are:
- Tiffany Cartwright, an associate at the social liberties law firm MacDonald Hoague and Bayless, represents the U.S. District Court of Washington.
- Ana Isabel de Alba is a Fresno County Superior Court judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.
- Robert Steven Huie, of the law firm Jones Day, for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.
- Natasha Merle, prosecutor’s agent at the NAACP Legal Defence and Educational Fund Inc., for the U.S. District Court of New York.
- Jennifer Rearden, an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Nina Nin-Yuen Wang is a United States District Court judge for the District of Colorado and the U.S. District Court of Colorado.