The body of Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first female and Muslim judge on the New York Court of Appeals – the highest court in the state – was discovered Wednesday afternoon in the Hudson River. She was 65.
Ms. Abdus-Salaam was remembered by colleague Chief Judge Janet DiFiore for her “warmth” and “bright legal mind,” and praised by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for her “unshakable moral compass.”
The situation surrounding her untimely death remain murky. Police have said there were no signs of trauma on her body, but suggestions that her death could have been a suicide seem far-fetched to many, with people calling for an investigation into possible criminality.
That Sheila Abdus-Salaam's death is being called suicide within hours, before autopsy, should alarm everyone. This is NOT how it works.
— POTUStweets (@POTUS_Tweets) April 13, 2017
Others were angered at the fact that “Hudson River” was listed as “trending” on Twitter, rather than Ms. Abdus-Salaam’s name.
Rest in Peace Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam. May the truth be uncovered & anyone responsible made to pay#SAYHERNAME not Hudson River @Twitter
— Tari (@tarilove_) April 13, 2017
Upbringing and personal history
Sheila Abdus-Salaam told the New York Times that as a young girl in public school she became interested in her family’s history, and her research led her to discover that her great-grandfather had been a slave in Virginia. She grew up in Washington, DC, in a poor family with seven children. Abdus-Salaam credited her humble upbringing as an important factor that shaped her sense of social justice.
A voice for the vulnerable
Governor Cuomo praised her “working-class roots” when she was nominated to the Court of Appeals in 2013, and she had been known for regularly siding with vulnerable parties on cases she presided over – impoverished immigrants, people suffering from mental illnesses, and people who brought claims of misconduct or fraud against wealthy corporations. After graduating from Columbia law in 1977, she became a public defender, providing free legal services to those who could not afford a lawyer.
LGBT rights
In 2016 Abdus-Salaam wrote an important decision that expanded the definition of parenthood for same-sex couples and blended families. For 25 years, the non-biological parent had no standing to seek visitation rights of a child after a breakup, but Judge Abdus-Salaam held that the ruling had become “unworkable when applied to increasingly varied familial relationships.”
Possibility of foul play?
An autopsy has yet to be conducted on Ms. Abdus-Salaam – which is why many have been angered by the rush to conclude her death was suicide. She was reported missing before being found in the Hudson River, but the circumstances around her disappearance are unclear. Social media swirled with theories and rumors, with people pointing out that she had made a legal career of “keeping cops honest” and defending disadvantaged people against wealthy, established interests – people who could have wished her harm.
While it's not clear whether this is what happened, threatening and assassinating lawyers and judges who go up against powerful interests has been a tactic in conflict zones the world over, from Mexico, where judges handling cases of drug cartel leaders have been gruesomely murdered, to Iraq, where a judge presiding over war crimes was assassinated.
The US is in the midst of heightened racial tensions and Islamophobia – and if a leading US judge was indeed targeted due to her race, religion, or rulings as a judge – that should be extremely worrying. President Trump himself has regularly expressed disdain for the country’s judicial system when federal judges overturned his executive orders barring entry to travelers from Muslim-majority countries.
An investigation is underway to reveal more information about her cause of death.
It’s a dark day for those who hoped to watch Abdus-Salaam rise to the Supreme Court, but hope that her legacy as a “force for good” will live on.
Devestated by the news that judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam was found dead in NY.
— Nihad Awad نهاد عوض (@NihadAwad) April 13, 2017
RIP. May Allah bless your soul our Sister. #RIPJudgeAbdusSalaam
