First Muslim federal judge in US

President Joe Biden has lived up to his promise of diversity in his cabinet and the government. His nominee, Zahid Quraishi, after confirmation by the US Senate, has become the first Muslim American federal judge in the country’s history.

Senators last week voted to confirm Quraishi to serve as a judge for the district court of New Jersey. Quraishi’s confirmation ushers in a signal of camaraderie bridging the divide in the House, since as many as 32 Republican Senators joined with Democrats to confirm him. In this regard, 81 votes were cast in favor of him while 16 votes were cast against him. Zahid Qureshi is the third judge in the US Senate to be approved.

Islam is the third largest religion in the US but to date, not a single Muslim had been confirmed as a federal judge. Pakistani-American and American Muslim organizations welcomed Zahid Qureshi’s nomination. Quraishi’s nomination has brought joy to Pakistanis as well because, since he is the son of Pakistani immigrants and is the first American Muslim in US history to serve as an Article III federal judge. President Biden has previously included three Pakistani-Americans in his administration, including Dilawar Syed, the owner of a technology company, whom the president has nominated for the post of deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration. Pakistani-American Salman Ahmed is in the State Department and another Pakistani-American, Ali Zaidi, is on the White House Climate Committee.

Quraishi has had an interesting career so far as he has served as a magistrate judge since 2019, and previously worked in the Department of Homeland Security, US attorney’s office and served in the military. Quraishi was born in New York City and raised in Fanwood, New Jersey. After earning his law degree from Rutgers Law School, Quraishi joined the firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. It is a coincidence that Quraishi’s first day of work was the day of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an event that left a deep impression on him and prompted him to enlist in the military. He applied to the US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he was commissioned as an officer and attained the rank of Captain. Quraishi was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2006. His meritorious service earned him the coveted Bronze Star and a Combat Action Badge.

After leaving the Army, Quraishi worked as a federal prosecutor in the US attorney’s office in New Jersey for five years and as an assistant chief counsel at the Department of Homeland Security. In 2019, he was appointed as a magistrate judge for the District Court of New Jersey, becoming the first Asian American to serve on the federal bench in the state.

Zahid Qureshi has extensive experience working in US law and justice. Prior to becoming a New Jersey Magistrate Judge in June 2019, he was chairman of the Ryker Danzig Company’s White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigation Group. He was also the company’s first chief diversity officer. He has extensive experience fighting complex criminal cases at the state and federal levels and investigating corporations. In his career as a lawyer, he has worked on cases involving the enforcement of government functions and the observance of rules and regulations.

Quraishi is the third judicial nominee that Democrats have confirmed since President Joe Biden was sworn into the White House. In March, President Biden announced Qureshi’s nomination as a federal judge. In April, after his nomination, Zahid Qureshi appeared before a Senate judiciary committee. Zahid Qureshi is one of ten American jurists from different communities living in the United States who have been nominated by President Biden as judges in the US federal justice system.

According to Yahoo News, upon his confirmation, Quraishi received congratulations from a number of progressives and Democrats. “Congrats to Judge Zahid Quraishi on his historic confirmation to the U.S. District Court of New Jersey!” Senator Cory Booker, Democrat from New Jersey tweeted: “Zahid’s character, skill and expertise as a jurist, and his long standing service to our state and country make him an excellent addition to the court.” Senator Gary Peters, Democrat from Michigan, Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat from Hawaii, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also took to twitter to share their support. Quraishi is among Biden’s first judicial nominations, a diverse roster of 11 judges who would continue to make history if confirmed. These include Judge Florence Pan, who would be the first Asian American woman on the District Court in the District of Columbia, and Judge Lydia Griggsby, who would be the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge in Maryland.

While nominating the law and justice experts as federal judges, the President, in a statement from the White House stated that the candidates were “the best minds in the United States law department.” President Biden has said that each of them is capable of administering justice impartially in accordance with the US Constitution. And the nominees represent the diversity, experience and perspective of the United States, which makes the United States a strong country.