(Bergen Record) New Jersey’s Zahid Quraishi has served as a military prosecutor and an Army captain in Iraq, as an assistant U.S. attorney who has tried cases of public corruption, organized crime and financial fraud, and as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer.
But when Quraishi, who grew up in Union County, appeared last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee — which is considering his nomination as a federal district court judge — one of the few questions he faced had nothing to do with his noteworthy resume.
“What do you know about Sharia law?” asked the committee chair, Sen. Dick Durbin.
Muslim Americans were dismayed that even a war veteran and magistrate judge could not escape Islamophobic suspicions that routinely befall those seeking or serving in public office.
