The US Senate on Thursday approved President Joe Biden's nomination of Zahid Quraishi, a magistrate judge in New Jersey, to the federal bench, making him the first Muslim federal judge in US history.
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The Democrat-controlled Senate voted 81-16 to confirm Quraishi, 46, who is the son of Pakistani immigrants and a former federal and military prosecutor.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York noted on the Senate floor that while Islam is the third-largest religion in the US, no Muslim has ever served on the federal bench.
"We must expand not only demographic diversity but professional diversity, and I know that President Biden agrees with me on this and this will be something that I will set out to do," Schumer said.
