Champion for Equality and Access to Justice, Judge Mustafah Kasubhai, JD ’96 Confirmed to Federal Bench

Oregon Law is proud to announce Magistrate Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai, JD ’96, has been confirmed by the United States Senate as US District Court Judge for the District of Oregon. The vote makes him the first Asian American lifetime judge and first Muslim lifetime judge in the District of Oregon. Kasubhai is the third Muslim lifetime judge in our nation’s history. In his new post, he replaces another Oregon Law alum, retiring Judge Ann Aiken, JD ’79. 

“The Oregon Law community is over the moon that our distinguished alumnus and wonderful friend, Judge Mustafa Kasubhai, has been confirmed as a United States District Judge for the District of Oregon,” said Oregon Law Interim Dean Jennifer Reynolds. “Judge Kasubhai is brilliant, patient, thoughtful, and wise. He embodies everything we hope for in a federal judge.”  

Kasubhai has a deep and exemplary history in the Oregon legal community and has long been committed to the University of Oregon School of Law. In recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to Oregon Law, the state, and the nation, Kasubhai was awarded the 2024 Frohnmayer Award for Public Service. The law school bestows this honor on an alum, faculty member, or friend each year for their public service. A mentor to students and practitioners alike, he facilitates Oregon Law’s Litigation Lab and serves on the Oregon Law Dean’s Advisory Council.  

"Judge Kasubhai is an excellent choice to serve on the US District Court for Oregon. His long list of qualifications speaks for itself, and I’m thrilled that his nomination has now been confirmed by the Senate,” Sen. Ron Wyden said in a statement.  

Kasubhai is co-founder of the Oregon Mediation Diversity Project, a member of the Oregon District Court Judicial Equity Committee and member of the Joint State & Federal Workgroup on Unconscious Bias Education, as well as co-founder and president of the Oregon Muslim Bar Association and co-founder and secretary of the Oregon South Asian Bar Association. He also serves as the chair of the Attorney Admission Fund for Oregon District Court and the Oregon State Bar Leadership Institute Advisory Board.  

His longstanding support for inclusivity and diversity is evident in his extensive involvement in diverse groups, as well as speeches and publications on the topic. Among those, Kasubhai published Pronouns and Privilege in the Oregon Women Lawyers AdvanceSheet in summer 2021 and gave the keynote speech for the Campaign for Equal Justice in September 2022. 

 In a video supporting his Frohnmayer Award nomination, Kasabhai was described by students and colleagues as humble, kind, inclusive, intelligent, curious, understanding, caring, introspective, compassionate, positive, welcoming, inspiring, and committed to making the world a better place.  

“I think what I see in him is not just that he seeks to be compassionate and inclusive in his courtroom, creating space for others that’s safe and welcoming, but he challenges us in our profession to be more welcoming and inclusive throughout the bench, the bar, and encourages us to be better,” said Lane County Circuit Court Judge Kamala Shugar, a fellow JD ’96 alum. 

In addition to the Frohnmayer Award, Kasubhai received the Oregon State Bar’s Wallace P. Carson Jr. Judicial Excellence Award in 2022. He was honored in 2018 as a Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer by the National Asian/Pacific-American Bar Association and Justice Lynn Nakamoto Trailblazer by the Oregon Asian/Pacific-American Bar Association. 

Born in Reseda, California, to Indian immigrant parents, Kasubhai came to Oregon Law after receiving a BS in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1992.  

Since then, he has developed significant roots in Oregon, starting his career as an associate at Rasmussen, Tyler & Mundorff from 1997-98. He then established himself as a partner in his own Kasubhai & Sanchez firm, with offices in Eugene and Klamath Falls from 1998-99, before he set off on his own with the Law Offices of Mustafa T. Kasubhai, PC, also in Eugene and Klamath Falls, until 2003.  

First appointed to the federal magistrate judge post in 2018 after serving eleven years as a state circuit court judge in the Oregon Judicial Department at the Lane County Circuit Court, Kasubhai previously served as a member of the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board. 

Kasubhai was nominated to the federal court by President Biden in September 2023. The successful vote on Kasubhai’s nomination came to fruition after a tense hearing in late 2023 and months of delays. He was confirmed Tuesday in a 51-to-44 vote.