13 Facts About Esther Salas

Esther Salas was born on December 29,1968 and is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey sitting in Newark, New Jersey.

Esther Salas previously served as a United States magistrate judge of the same court from 2006 until her confirmation as a district judge in 2011.

Esther Salas is from Monterey Park, California, and is the daughter of a Cuban mother and a Jewish-Mexican father.

Esther Salas's father is Jewish and her mother is Catholic.

Esther Salas attended Emerson High School in Union City, where her extracurricular activities included cheerleading.

Esther Salas graduated from Rutgers in 1991 and in 1994 from Rutgers University School of Law in Newark with a Juris Doctor.

Esther Salas served as president of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey from 2001 to 2002, and as president of the Hispanic Bar Foundation of New Jersey.

Esther Salas has been a member of the Governor's Hispanic Advisory Committee for Policy Development, the Supreme Court Committee on Minority Concerns, and the Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts.

In 2006, Esther Salas was selected from a group of 99 applicants as United States magistrate judge for the District of New Jersey, becoming the first Latina in that position, in which she served for five years.

The US District Court for the District of New Jersey has a busy docket; according to a 2018 profile, Esther Salas "presides over as many as 485 civil matters and 50 criminal cases" at any given time.

Esther Salas was a criminal defense attorney and former Essex County assistant prosecutor.

Esther Salas was in the basement at the time of the attack and was not injured.

Esther Salas was interviewed for a 60 Minutes report in February 2021 about this attack, in which 60 Minutes revealed the discovery of the gunman's planning for an attack on Justice Sonia Sotomayor.