@SteveW: look, when she was appointed it was significant. Just like when she was the first black woman was important. Just like on the death of Jackie Robinson mentioning he was the first black player in major league baseball (even though that’s disputed)

Black female yes impressive but what has religion got to do with anything?

Again what has religion got to do with her being a judge?

@SteveW: I actually agree, it doesn’t matter. That being said, when a person claiming to be Muslim does something horrific, it’s printed everywhere that they were, in fact, Muslim. It’s a crying shame that a persons religion defines them to the rest of the world, but that’s how it is at the moment.

@SteveW: there’s a difference between DOESNT and SHOULDNT. It matters because it is difference in a homogenous group. If you can’t see how it matters I can only facepalm.

Exactly Moser. Religion is used as an excuse to label, define and separate us.

Headline” Tony the Christian hurts himself by face palming himself all day long”.

@SteveW: Sorry to disappoint but I’m not a Christian. Try again.

You don’t have to mention “Christian,” since in both Ireland and the U.S., the default assumption is that somebody is either Christian or atheist. If somebody is something else, then it is worthy of mention, as otherwise people will make erroneous assumptions. I agree that they shouldn’t, that we should all assume that anybody could be any race, gender or religion, but the fact is most of us DO have unconscious assumptions.

And being Muslim is particularly significant, given the level of prejudice against Muslims in the U.S. at the moment. If a judge in the U.K. in the 1980s was Irish, I would expect it to be mentioned, as both Irish judges in 1980s U.K. and Muslim judges in the U.S. today could face accusations of bias as some people put all Muslims (or all Irish people) in one category and assume they support crimes committed by others in that category. It makes very little sense but people do have irrational prejudices, whether we like it or not. I’d say in America today, being Muslim would cause her more difficulties in her profession than being female, so yes, it is relevant, sadly.

@SteveW: what has black got to do with her being a judge?

It was an imaginary silly headline Tony but you homed in on the Christian bit quick enough. That’s my point. Your faith or lack of shouldn’t define you never mind being part of a headline narrative.

@SteveW:
There has been a lot of anti- Muslim sentiment in the U.S since 911. That fact that she was the first Muslim judge is important because it is inspirational to other Muslims, to show them that they can achieve high public office in the face of bigotry. It might not seem important to you, but it certainly is to people of her faith.

Not in headline Jason..

@SteveW: I couldn’t agree more !

@Moser: You two should get a room.

@Rachel commented: The heading says she was found on the riverbank. Maybe she floated on to it. Speculation isn’t fact. Wait for the Journal to print the post mortem results.

No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t show them to BE an impediment, but ONE woman being a judge does not prove that women have the exact same opportunities as men in all professions, ONE Muslim being a judge does not indicate Muslims have the exact same opportunities as Christians in every profession, ONE black person being a judge does not indicate that there is no inequality between races.

As a comparison, de Valera was probably illegitimate. He was probably the most powerful person ever in Ireland. Does that mean being illegitimate was no impediment in 1950s Ireland? Of course not. The Tuam babies proves that.

Douglas Hyde and Erskine Childers were both Protestant and became President. Does that mean Catholics had no unfair advantages in Ireland in the 40s or 70s? Of course not. It just means that being at a disadvantage doesn’t mean NOBODY in that group will ever succeed.

An impediment does not mean you can’t succeed if you are in x group. It just means if you are in x group, you have to be twice as good to succeed. If a company is hiring 10 people and 5 of the best candidates are men and 5 women, but it hires 1 woman and 9 men, that is extremely biased, but people could still point at the one woman and say, “see, gender isn’t an issue here,” even though obviously, it is.

This doesn’t prove anything either way. We’d have to get stats on whether women make up 50% of all judges in the U.S. and whether Muslims make up the same percentage of judges as they do of the American population to say whether or not these things are impediments. I could make a pretty good guess at what we’d find, but not having the stats, I can’t make any pronouncements.

@Dave O Keeffe: maybe they’re not smart enough

@Sara Elia López: to which they are you referring? Women,black people, or Muslims?

@Mike Cantwell: WHAT?

@Joe Caulfield:
- She was the first female Muslim judge
- She was the first black woman appointed to court of appeals
- She was found dead
Keep up!

@Linda: So you are openly and publicly pre judging her based on her gender race and religion. None of these stats are relevant unless she was murdered because of one two or all three of these. The author should have either giving or waited for more info.

@Tony Canning: Have you any evidence of this pattern? I don’t use my twitter account on this website.

@Dave O Keeffe: I told you what I think. The author either left something out or it not a relevant story.

@Joe Caulfield: I don’t know but, the author Sean Murray articles always seem to be pro muslim, and is not adverse to removing comments that don’t suit the agenda. One particular piece of information he left out through lack of research of the subject, and is so glaringly obvious, her first name is Shelia, Now does that sound like a muslim name ???. She became a muslim convert on marriage, hence the keeping of her first name

@Joe Caulfield: You win Joe – I don’t happen to have a log kept or indeed any way of sharing what is easily observable by anyone who regularly looks at these comments sections.

And oh look, you use a facebook account – that’s me put right back in my box once again.

Thanks for pointing out how wrong I am in judging you as a person with what I see as an obvious and obnoxious dislike for muslims. I mean, you’ve done just an A1 top job of showing me how wrong I am by using a social media platform which is not the one I happened to name.

Bravo sir, bravo.

@Just Me: Indeed just me but alot of these conversions to Islam tend to be more political than religious. I also suspect that her tenure as judge may have been more political than judicial.

A significant personality found dead in what seem to be mysterious circumstances that imply it could either be murder or suicide. I’d say that is a relevant story.

And look at all the media attention various “celebrity” deaths get. I think the first female Muslim judge is a more significant person than a singer or actor.

Of course there’s loads missing, all the speculative stuff can wait, it can’t all be instant. At this stage it’s still only breaking news, the gaps will be filled in as the story develops. Have a little patience and the full spectrum of information, misinformation and innuendo will be there to argue about.

@Joe Caulfield: So a judge is found dead in a river and you don’t want it mentioned that she was a couple of important “firsts”? Oh Joe, take a nap, she was female, black and Muslim, this is gonna hurt…

@Tony Canning: theres also a familiar pattern of you, Dave O’Keefe etc relentlessly making right-on virtue-signalling comments at the mention of Muslims, LGBT, oppressed wimmin etc..

@Margaret Lane: She was not a significant personality. She was unheard of until she died. This is the complete madness of identity politics fully exposed.

@Joe Caulfield:
You might not find it interesting Joe but that doesn’t put you in the right to scold others for doing so. A lot of people are interested in international news and politics, you griping at people for finding an article interesting shows a very insular mindset on your part. Also as I type this article has had over 35,000 viewers and over 60 commenters. Of which you are one.

Poor Joey Snowflakes, what will he be offended by next?