Zahid N. Quraishi has been nominated as a federal judge on the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. He has become the first Muslim federal judge.
The White House mentioned in a statement the list that included 10 other nominees, “This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession,” “Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people — and together they represent the broad diversity of background, experience, and perspective that makes our nation strong.”
Zahid N. Quraishi was appointed to be a magistrate judge in the District of New Jersey in 2019. According to the international news source, a magistrate judge is considered a member of the federal bench the same way a district court or circuit judge is.
Quraishi is a Pakistani and got his law degree from Rutgers Law School. He is currently working as an adjunct professor there. He was a military prosecutor with the JAG Corps and did deployments in 2004 and 2006. He also worked with the Department of Homeland Security. After that, he served as a federal prosecutor in the District of New Jersey.
According to the international news source, Quraishi has received several honors, including the 2019 New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association Trailblazer of the Year Award.
“The first Muslim-American who was nominated to serve on the federal bench was denied that opportunity to serve and that was Abid Qureshi,” said Lena Zwarensteyn, the fair courts campaign senior director at the liberal Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights.
He was nominated in 2016.
“It is certainly time that there is much more representation in terms of various faiths or even no faith on the bench,” Zwarensteyn said.
