Washington: Nadia Kahf, a lawyer from Syria, made history by becoming the first hijab-wearing judge on the US Supreme Court.
Phil Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, nominated Kahf last year, according to regional media. Mayors, council members, members of the school board, and executives of the New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association signed a letter in May urging Senator Kristin Corrado to move the nomination forward.
Additionally, an online petition supporting her nomination received more than 700 signatures.
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Kahf, the third Muslim woman to hold the position of Superior Court judge in the US, took the oath last week while placing her hand on a Qur'an that belonged to her grandmother.
She said during the ceremony, "I am proud to represent the Muslim and Arab communities in New Jersey in the US. I want to show the younger generation that they can practise their religion openly and be who they are without fear. Diversity is not a weakness for us; it is a strength.
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Kahf was a solicitor who focused on family law and also dealt with immigration cases. She has served on the board of the Muslim civil rights organisation Council on American-Islamic Relations' New Jersey chapter since 2003.
Another woman who dons the Islamic headscarf, family law attorney Dalya Youssef, was sworn in as a Superior Court judge the following day in Somerset County, also in New Jersey, following Kahf's swearing-in ceremony.