Laura Glesby Photo
Judge Underhill swears in Judge Nagala Friday in New Haven.
After a decade of prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking, Sarala V. Nagala Friday was ceremoniously sworn in as Connecticut’s first Asian American federal judge.
Stefan Underhill, the District of Connecticut’s chief federal judge, ceremonially swore Nagala into her new role as U.S. District Judge in an investiture ceremony held inside the federal courthouse on Church Street in New Haven.
After warm words from mentors, coworkers, and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Nagala formally put on her new robes and joined her colleagues behind the bench.
Nagala has technically been a U.S. District judge since she was first sworn in on Nov. 3, 2021, with the more public swearing-in delayed until this Friday’s ceremony. The U.S. Senate confirmed her for the role in October 2021 by a vote of 52 to 46.
Three Republican Senators voted in favor of confirming Nagala, a Biden nominee who otherwise garnered overwhelming Democratic support. Sen. Blumenthal, who represents Connecticut, said that the “bipartisan” support for Nagala “doesn’t happen all that often.”
“It was pretty easy [to advocate for Nagala’s confirmation] because her qualifications are so superb,” said Blumenthal.
He read from a letter authored by the South Asian Bar Association of North America, which said that her confirmation as the first South Asian federal judge in Connecticut was “profoundly meaningful to the growing South Asian legal community in North America.”
Nagala's family accompanies her as she puts on her robe.
Those qualifications include four years working as a clerk and then as a law firm associate on the West Coast before moving to Connecticut for a position with the United State’s Attorney’s office. For nine years, she worked as a prosecutor, focusing on hate crimes, human trafficking, cyber-crime, and fraud. For five of those years, she served as the deputy chief of the office’s Major Crimes Unit.
As an assistant U.S. attorney, Nagala led outreach initiatives to Arab, Muslim, and Sikh communities, aiming to build more trust with the FBI in a post‑9/11 era of Islamophobic discrimination from law enforcement. She also spearheaded professional development initiatives for the FBI and Connecticut law enforcement, including cultural competency education; sex trafficking awareness programs; and training on how to assess security at religious institutions.
Nagala pushed for that last initiative on house of worship security after an Islamophobic shooting at a Meriden mosque rattled community members. Nagala was one of the attorneys who prosecuted the shooter in that incident, which damaged the mosque building but led to no injuries. In what her former colleague Ray Miller described as a fraught meeting that soon turned emotional, Nagala facilitated an apology from the shooter to mosque leaders, who responded by offering the perpetrator Easter chocolate.
Some of Nagala's federal judge colleagues.
Prior to attending college and law school in California, Nagala grew up in the small town of Oakes, North Dakota. Her parents immigrated there from South India and became the rural region’s only medical providers. Nagala described that they sometimes drove hundreds of miles to meet patients closer to where they lived.
From her parents, Nagala said, “I learned what it means to dedicate yourself to serving your community.”
The first federal judge Nagala encountered was the person who conferred American citizenship upon her parents. At the time, Nagala was 11; she said she never imagined she would one day wear judicial robes herself.
Nagala's 6-year-old niece and 4-year-old son lead the courtroom in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Fellow prosecutors said they were less surprised by Nagala’s judicial appointment. Her former colleague Assistant U.S. States Attorney Marc Silverman praised Nagala’s “intelligence, her tireless work ethic, her humanity, and her humility.”
“Do not be deceived by her gentle and kind demeanor,” said former U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly. “This is a woman with tremendous character. Fearless. This is a woman who does not blink.”
As former and future colleagues praised Nagala’s character and intellect, the gravity of her new role was not lost on the room. “The decisions Judge Nagala will make will have some serious and sometimes life-altering consequences for the parties involved,” said Chief Judge Underhill.
Accompaniesd by her husband and children, Nagala stepped into her new black robe and zipped it up in acceptance of this responsibility.
Thanks for the list of her activities. I was afraid that her only qualification was being South Asian, which in itself is not an achievement but an accident of birth.