Senate Confirms Sarala Vidya Nagala to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
- The 38-year-old Indian American federal prosecutor becomes the first judge of South Asian descent to serve in the district court in the state.
Indian American federal prosecutor Sarala Vidya Nagala has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a 52–46 vote to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. She became the first judge of South Asian descent to serve in the district court in the state.
During the Senate vote on Oct. 27, Nagala received support from just three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Massachusetts, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Law 360 reported.
Nagala is awaiting her judicial commission. She is Biden’s 18th district court judge confirmed and 25th overall.
Before her confirmation, Nagala was the deputy chief of the Major Crimes Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Connecticut, a role she has held since 2017. Nagala joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2012 and has served in leadership roles in the office, including as Hate Crimes Coordinator. Previously, she was an associate at Munger, Tolles, & Olson in San Francisco, California from 2009 to 2012.
She began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Susan Graber on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2008 to 2009. Nagala received her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law in 2008 and her B.A. from Stanford University in 2005.