The U.S. Senate Wednesday and Thursday confirmed two nominees with ties to the American Civil Liberties Union to the Federal Court.
The confirmations include a civil rights attorney whose nomination has been stalled for years and the first Muslim woman to sit on the federal bench.
Ali Jazeera reports that the Senate confirmed Nusrat Choudhury by a 50-49 vote Thursday.
“Nusrat Choudhury is a trailblazing civil rights lawyer with a remarkable record of advancing equal justice for all in our nation,” Anthony D Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement.
Choudhury served as legal director of the Illinois branch of the ACLU and is the first Muslim woman and first Bangladeshi American to be confirmed to the federal court. She’ll sit on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
According to Reuters, she worked on racial justice and national security issues for the civil liberties organization.
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Her confirmation comes one day after another civil rights attorney with the ACLU advanced to the federal bench.
The Senate confirmed Dale Ho to sit on the federal court for the Southern District of New York, also by a 50 – 49 vote.
The Republican-controlled Senate refused to confirm Ho last session, but with the Democrats having reseized control of the upper house, Ho was renominated by Biden in January.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC applauded the Democrats for pushing Ho’s nomination through. He’s received numerous awards from the committee including the 2020 Asian Law Alliance Legal Impact Award and the 2019 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) President’s Award.
He has been a leading advocate for both voting rights and immigration.
“As a seasoned civil rights attorney, Ho has argued cases before the United States Supreme Court, including successfully challenging the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census,” AAAJ-AAJ said in a statement sent to AsAmNews. “Furthermore, he fearlessly advocated for the fair representation of undocumented immigrants, challenging their exclusion from the population count used to apportion the House of Representatives. As lead counsel in Fish v. Kobach, Ho successfully dismantled a Kansas law requiring people to show a birth certificate or passport when registering to vote. His relentless dedication to safeguarding the rights of our communities ensures that our democratic processes remain inclusive and just.”
He currently serves as director of the American Civil Liberties voting rights project.
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