United States' first female Muslim judge found dead in Hudson River

A groundbreaking African-American jurist who became the first Muslim woman to serve as a US judge was found dead in New York's Hudson River on Wednesday, police said. Sheila Abdus-Salaam, a 65-year-old associate judge of New York's highest court, was found floating off Manhattan's west side on Wednesday afternoon, a day after she was reported missing, a police spokesman said.

Police pulled Abdus-Salaam's fully clothed body from the water and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said her body showed no obvious signs of trauma, and they declined to speculate on the cause of her death. Her family identified her and an autopsy would determine the cause of death, the spokesman said.

Abdus-Salaam, a native of Washington, DC, became the first African-American woman appointed to the Court of Appeals when Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo named her to the state's high court in 2013.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/13/united-states-first-female-Muslim-judge-found-dead-hudson-river/

"Page not found."  Too bad, I'd like to see how the Telegraph phrases it.

According to CNN, she was a New York appellate judge, not a US Judge.  She was only 'US' in her national citizenship.

I love the way the Telegraph implies by innuendo that she was a United States District Court judge, suggesting this was some political intrigue.

So she either jumped or she was pushed.

Quill...appellate judge??? explain pls

eddie wrote:So she either jumped or she was pushed.

I don't know. She might have tripped. Or, perhaps she was in an auto accident on the West Side Highway, and plunged into the water. We'll have to wait and see.

Lord Foul wrote:Quill...appellate judge???  explain pls

Courts in the US are on two levels...state and federal.  States have their own court system, normally dealing with common crimes (including murder...important, but not federal crimes like espionage) and civil matters.  In the State of New York, the Court of Appeals is the highest court:

NY Ct. of Appeals wrote:The Court of Appeals, New York State's highest court, is composed of a Chief Judge and six Associate Judges, each appointed to a 14-year term. New York's highest appellate court was established to articulate statewide principles of law in the context of deciding particular lawsuits. The Court thus generally focuses on broad issues of law as distinguished from individual factual disputes. There is no jurisdictional limitation based upon the amount of money at stake in a case or the status or rank of the parties.

The Federal Courts are a different matter, as they hold the power to negate the President and/or Congress by declaring an executive order or piece of legislation unconstitutional.  You saw those guys in action in the states of Washington and Hawai'i, affirmed in San Francisco, shutting down Trump's Muslim ban.  The US Court system has a District Court (for trials), the next higher Court of Appeals (the appellate level, which you saw in action in San Francisco with the Ninth Circuit), and the Supreme Court (highest).

Federal judges are very heavy hombres, and wield a lot of power.  So, given today's times, a mishap involving a Federal District judge would require a serious FBI investigation.  I do think the Telegraph was trying to imply (without saying) that this judge was a Federal judge, linking this story to heavier issues of the day, thus elevating the importance of the story.