Magistrate Judge Mustafa Kasubhai answers questions during a U.S. Senate hearing in 2023. (C-SPAN screenshot)
The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Oregon Magistrate Judge Mustafa Kasubhai to a lifetime appointment on the U.S. District Court for Oregon on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden nominated Kasubhai, a former state circuit court judge with 17 years of experience on state and federal benches, to the federal district court more than a year ago. The Senate voted 51-44 to confirm Kasubhai.
Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley heralded the news, saying in a joint statement that it was a great day for justice in America.
“Judge Kasubhai brings to the U.S. District Court an all-star résumé of legal accomplishment, judicial temperament and personal integrity,” the Democratic senators said. “We are gratified the Senate has acted to confirm this standout jurist and are fully confident this exceptional Oregonian will be an outstanding addition to the federal court in our state.”
Wyden said on the Senate floor that Kasubhai’s nomination was deeply personal for him, as he reminded colleagues that his parents fled the Holocaust and spent their lives fighting antisemitism. Wyden described how Kasubhai ordered that a man who vandalized a Eugene synagogue with white supremacist phrases and symbols in January remain in custody as a danger. The man pleaded guilty to three federal hate crimes last week.
“When antisemitism came to my community again early this year, Judge Kasubhai drew a line in the sand against that scourge, against antisemitism,” Wyden said. “When a white supremacist attacked one of our synagogues, Judge Kasubhai recognized the threat when others did not and he ordered that the antisemitic suspect be held in jail without bail, colleagues.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which supported Kasubhai’s nomination, praised his confirmation in a statement. Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the conference’s fair courts program, thanked Biden, Wyden and Merkley for prioritizing Kasubhai’s appointment.
“Judge Kasubhai possesses significant experience defending and protecting the rights of working people and, as a fair-minded magistrate judge, has been deeply committed to equity, inclusion and fairness in his courtroom,” Zwarensteyn said. “He also makes history as the first Asian American lifetime judge and first Muslim lifetime judge on the District of Oregon. This personal and professional diversity strengthens our democracy by improving judicial decision-making and allows more people to see themselves reflected and represented in the courtroom.
Kasubhai made history in 2018 as the first Muslim American judge to serve on the federal bench when he was appointed as a magistrate judge. Now, he’ll also be the first Asian American judge to serve in the District of Oregon and only the third Muslim American district court judge in the country. The appointment of another Muslim American, Adeel Mangi, to the federal appellate court has been stalled over Republican objections.
Kasubhai is the son of Indian immigrants and grew up in California, where he received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of California-Berkeley in 1992. He then moved to Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon’s law school in 1996.
He practiced civil law until 2003, primarily representing injured workers and union members in employment cases. Former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat, appointed Kasubhai to a full-time position on the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board in 2003.
Kulongoski in 2007 named Kasubhai to a circuit court judgeship in Lane County. Kasubhai remained in that position until his appointment as a federal magistrate judge in 2018. That year, the Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association recognized him with trailblazer awards.
Biden nominated Kasubhai as a district judge in September 2023 to replace U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, who’s taken senior status or a reduced caseload. Within a month, he became the focus of attention of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas accusing him of having a record “so far out of the mainstream” that he attracted all questions at an October 2023 hearing.
Republicans who opposed Kasubhai’s nomination pointed to a 2023 ruling he made as a magistrate judge invalidating Eugene’s citywide curfew during 2020 protests and riots over police brutality. They also criticized his courtroom rules, which ask attorneys and parties to the case to provide their pronouns and honorifics — words like Mr., Ms. or Mx. that precede a name, and to use those pronouns and honorifics in referring to the other parties and attorneys.
In his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kasubhai said he developed those rules to ensure that everyone who comes before the court “can be acknowledged and identified in dignified ways.” He noted that other judges in Oregon have similar policies.
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