Biden naming Sanket Bulsara to New York US District Court

President Joe Biden intends to nominate Indian American judge Sanket J. Bulsara to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The White House Wednesday announced Biden’s intent to nominate Bulsara with three others to federal district courts—“all of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.”

“These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” it said.

READ: Indian American Sanket Bulsara appointed as New York magistrate judge (September 8, 2017)

This will be Biden’s 45th round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 219.

Bulsara has been a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York since 2017, according to his White House profile.

From January 2017 to May 2017,  Bulsara served as the Acting General Counsel of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, where he had been the Deputy General Counsel for Appellate Litigation, Adjudication, and Enforcement since 2015.

Prior to that, Bulsara worked at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP as an associate from 2005 to 2008, a counsel from 2009 to 2011, and a partner from 2012 to 2015.

READ: Here are some of the top Indian American judges (July 23, 2020)

For six months between 2007 and 2008 he served as a Special Assistant District Attorney at the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s Office and he worked as an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles, California from 2003 to 2004.

Bulsara served as a law clerk for Judge John G. Koeltl on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2002 to 2003. He received his JD from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 2002 and his AB, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1998.

Meanwhile, Senator Charles Schumer, majority leader of US senate, describing Bulsara as a  “first-rate legal mind and a dedicated, talented public servant,” said he had recommended the judge’s name to the President.

READ: Roopali H. Desai becomes first South Asian woman judge on 9th circuit (August 8, 2022)

Bulsara “is an expert in securities, contract, bankruptcy, and regulatory matters, but his experience also extends to representing the incarcerated, victims of domestic violence, and individuals on death row in pro bono cases,” he stated.

“Sanket Bulsara is the epitome of the American Dream and a history maker: the child of hard-working immigrants from both India and Kenya, and the first South Asian American federal judge to serve on any court in the Second Circuit when he was appointed as a Magistrate Judge,” Schumer added.

Bulsara was born in the Bronx to immigrant parents before moving to New Rochelle and later Edgemont, New York. Bulsara’s parents immigrated over 50 years ago, his father worked for the City of New York as an engineer and his mother was a dedicated nurse.

READ: Three Indian American judges take oath in Texas (January 2, 2023)

Bulsara lives in Long Island City with his wife, Christine DeLorenzo.