US Senate confirms Indian-American Judge Bulsara as a District Judge for the Eastern District of New York

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The United States Senate confirmed, on May 15, 2024, Indian-American Judge Sanket Bulsara to serve as a District Judge for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), which includes Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island and serves a population of seven million people, with a 51-42 vote.

“We confirmed Judge Sanket Bulsara as an EDNY judge. I recommended this amazing New Yorker, and exceptional legal mind to President Joe Biden. In 2017, he became the 1st Indian-American judge on the 2nd Circuit as a magistrate judge. He’s now the 195^th judge we’ve confirmed with President Joe Biden!” noted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) while announcing Bulsara’s confirmation.

Schumer, in his remarks on the Senate Floor, on May 15^th, reiterated “Judge Bulsara made history in 2017 as the first South Asian American judge to serve in any court within the Second Circuit when he was appointed the Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District.”

The South Asian population is rapidly growing both in NY state and across the country said Schumer while adding, “he [Bulsara] will make our courts a better reflection of the communities they serve.” According to him, Americans deserve judges who are fair, well-qualified, and mindful of the human impact of their decisions, and that Judge Bulsara perfectly fits that “noble ideal.”

Schumer forwarded Bulsara’s name to President Biden for the role of district judge in EDNY in February this year. On March 6^th, Schumer told the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was honored to introduce Bulsara for the position.

Schumer underscored that Bulsara’s colleagues and peers commend his outstanding judgement and describe him as “brilliant, ethical, even-keeled, energetic, [and] hard-working.”

“Judge Bulsara is the epitome of the American Dream: a proud son of hard-working immigrant parents from India and Kenya who taught him the value of public service at an early age. His father was an engineer for the City of New York for 33 years, who not only raised his son to be a good Yankees fan, but even worked on the renovations of the original Yankee stadium in 1974,” Schumer said noting Judge Bulsara’s parents devoted their lives to serving the public, and he knows Bulsara takes pride in following their example. Their stories embody the great American Dream.

“NAPABA congratulates Judge Sanket J. Bulsara on his nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He is an experienced jurist and has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge on the court since 2017,” said Anna Mercado Clark, President of National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) on February 7^th. “A native New Yorker and active member of the Asian American Bar Association of New York, Judge Bulsara, who was – at the time that he was appointed a U.S. Magistrate Judge – the first South Asian American to serve as a judge within the Second Circuit, is exceptionally well qualified.  We are proud to support his nomination.”

According to the EDNY website, Bulsara, in his role as a Magistrate Judge, has overseen 400 settlement conferences, participated in several “bench and jury trials” and written over 300 published opinions. Additionally, he holds key positions such as Co-Chair of the EDNY and the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Joint Local Rules Committee, and a member of the Court’s Criminal Justice Act Committee. Chief Justice John Roberts appointed him to the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Magistrate Judges System.

In 2015, Bulsara took on the role of Deputy General Counsel for Appellate Litigation, Adjudication and Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington DC. Just before becoming a judge, he held the position of Acting General Counsel at the SEC.

Judge Bulsara graduated with an A.B. degree magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1998, followed by a J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2002. After Law school, Bulsara served as a law clerk to Judge John G. Koeltl of SDNY, and subsequently worked as an associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in New York from 2005 to 2015, eventually becoming a partner at the firm.