Biden nominates Indian-American civil rights attorney as federal judge in Connecticut
Washington: US President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-American civil rights attorney Sarala Vidya Nagala as a federal judge in the State of Connecticut.
If confirmed by the Senate, federal prosecutor Nagala would become the first judge of South Asian descent to serve on the District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Nagala is currently serving as the Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Unit in the US Attorney's Office in the District of Connecticut, a role she has held since 2017.
She joined the US Attorney's Office in 2012 and has served in a number of leadership roles, including as Hate Crimes Coordinator.
Previously, Nagala was an associate at Munger, Tolles, & Olson in San Francisco, California from 2009 to 2012.
Nagala began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Susan Graber on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2008 to 2009. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law in 2008 and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 2005.
The nomination of Nagala came along with four other new candidates for the federal bench and two for District of Columbia courts.
All of them are "extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and US Constitution," the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
The nomination of Nagala and others continue to fulfil President Biden's "promise to ensure that the nation's courts reflect the diversity that is one of the greatest assets as a country -- both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds," it said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
