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Sheila
Abdus-Salaam, a 65-year-old associate judge of New York's
highest court, was found floating off Manhattan's west side at
about 1:45 p.m. EDT (1545 GMT), a police spokesman said.
Police pulled Abdus-Salaam's fully clothed body from the water
and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her family identified
her and an autopsy would determine the cause of death, the
spokesman said.
Abdus-Salaam, a native of Washington, D.C., 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.
"Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam was a trailblazing jurist whose
life in public service was in pursuit of a more fair and more
just New York for all," Cuomo said in a statement.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History said
Abdus-Salaam was the first female Muslim to serve as a U.S.
judge.
Citing unidentified sources, the New York Post reported that
Abdus-Salaam had been reported missing from her New York home
earlier on Wednesday. Attempts to reach her family were
unsuccessful.
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.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Paul Tait)
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