New Jersey's 1st Indian American judge sworn in
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 27 July 2011, 19:23 IST
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New Jersey's 1st Indian American judge sworn in
Fremont: Sohail Mohammed was sworn into office as New Jersey's first Indian American and second Muslim state superior court judge on tuesday. Sohail Mohammed became one of Governor Chris Christie's seven nominees for a Superior Court position. The defense attorney Mohammed emigrated from India at the age of 10 with his parents. He left his engineering career to become a lawyer. Mohammed is a board member of the American Muslim Union he also served in Superior Court in Passaic County. Mohammed defended more than 30 detainees swept up by law enforcement after the 11 September 2001 attacks. He was first considered a judge by Gov. Jon Corzine in 2006 and later was nominated by Christie last September but he got matted in Passaic County judicial horse-trading, as well as intense, speculative opposition by conservative bloggers. In the year 2009 Mohammed was named as one of the 101 most influential people in the state and as a New Jersey "Super Lawyer" for four years, beginning in 2006 by New Jersey Monthly magazine. The critics raised concerns saying that Mohammed would try to enforce Islamic Sharia law, rather than the Constitution and state statutes. In response to which Mohammed said, he became an American citizen in November 1986 in the same Passic county courtroom where he became a judge. He also had the naturalization documents that he could produce as a proof. Mohammed is an example of American dream

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