In the state of Connecticut, US President Joe Biden has nominated an Indian-American civil rights attorney to serve as a federal judge.
Sarala Vidya Nagala, a federal prosecutor, would be the first judge of South Asian descent to serve on the District Court for the District of Connecticut if she is confirmed by the Senate.
Nagala has been the Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Unit in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut since 2017.
She joined the United States Attorney’s Office in 2012 and has held several leadership positions, including Hate Crimes Coordinator. From 2009 to 2012, Nagala worked as an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco, California.
From 2008 to 2009, Nagala worked as a law clerk for Judge Susan Graber of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law with a Juris Doctorate in 2008 and Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in 2005.
Nagala was nominated alongside four other new federal judges and two candidates for District of Columbia courts.
The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that all of them are “extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and the US Constitution.”
President Biden’s “promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country — both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” it said, was kept with Nagala’s nomination.
