First US black female judge found dead in Hudson River

Abdus-Salaam , the first black woman appointed to serve as a judge at New York’s highest court has been found dead in the Hudson River.

Sheila Abdus-Salaam was found floating off Manhattan’s west side at about 1.45pm yesterday, a police spokesman said.

The 65-year-old associate judge was pulled from the water fully clothed.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her family identified her and an autopsy is set to determine the cause of death.

She was sworn in by New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman at the New York Court of

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

The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History said Abdus-Salaam was the first female Muslim to serve as a US judge.

Abdus-Salaam had been reported missing from her New York home earlier yesterday, before her body was discovered.

A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School, Abdus-Salaam started her law career with East Brooklyn Legal Services and served as a New York state assistant attorney general, according to the Court of Appeals website.

She held a series of judicial posts after being elected to a New York City judgeship in 1991.