US's 1st hijab clad judge Nadia Kahf takes oath in New Jersey

Washington: Scripting history, Nadia Kahf took oath as the first hijab-wearing judge to take oath in the United States. Kahf took the oath on the Holy Quran, which she inherited from her grandmother, as a state Superior Court judge in Passaic County of New Jersey, Dawn reported.

The 50-year-old said that she was overwhelmed, happy and honoured. She was happy that the bench was going to reflect all the residents of New Jersey, she said.

Kahf specialises in family law and has worked on immigration cases also. She has served the New Jersey chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights organisation, since 2003.

She said that she was proud to represent the Muslim and Arab communities in New Jersey. She wanted the younger generation to see that they could practice their religion without fear and they could be who they were.

Kahf was nominated to the Superior Court in February 2022. Ninety elected officials of the State of New Jersey and hundreds of citizens wrote letters to State Senator Kristin Corrado requesting to withdraw her hold in the appointment of Kahf, the first hijabi to the New Jersey Superior Court.

In New Jersey, state senators can use the “senatorial courtesy”, an unwritten tradition that allows a lawmaker representing the hometown of a nominee to stall or block their consideration, Dawn reports.

Nadia Kahf immigrated to the US from Syria when she was 2-years-old. She is the president of the Islamic Centre of Passaic County and a legal counsel for Wafa House, a non-profit domestic violence and social service agency.