The first\u00a0black\u00a0woman appointed to serve as a judge at New York\u2019s highest court has been found dead in the Hudson River.<\/p>\n
Sheila Abdus-Salaam was found floating off Manhattan\u2019s west side at about 1.45pm yesterday, a police spokesman said.\u00a0 The 65-year-old\u00a0associate judge was\u00a0pulled from the water fully clothed.\u00a0 She was pronounced dead at the scene.\u00a0 Her family identified her and an autopsy is set to determine the cause of death.<\/p>\n
Abdus-Salaam, a native of Washington DC, became the first African-American woman appointed to the Court of Appeals when Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo named her to the state\u2019s high court in 2013.<\/p>\n
Cuomo said: \u2018Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam was a trailblazing jurist whose life in public service was in pursuit of a more fair and more just New York for all.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History said Abdus-Salaam was the first female Muslim to serve as a US judge.<\/p>\n
Abdus-Salaam had been reported missing from her New York home earlier yesterday, before her body was discovered.<\/p>\n
A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School, Abdus-Salaam started her law career with East Brooklyn Legal Services and served as a New York state assistant attorney general, according to the Court of Appeals website.<\/p>\n
She held a series of judicial posts after being elected to a New York City judgeship in 1991.<\/p>\n
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Source\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/reportuk.org\/2017\/04\/13\/first-us-black-female-judge-found-dead-in-hudson-river\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"