President Obama has nominated a Washington lawyer to a prestigious federal judgeship, making Abid Riaz Qureshi the first Muslim-American tapped for the federal judiciary, according to advocacy organizations.

The White House announced Tuesday that Obama had chosen Qureshi, a partner at the Washington law firm Latham & Watkins, to fill a spot on the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The federal court in the district is one of the most influential in the country. Obama turned to it to select his Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.

Like Garland, whose nomination has been stalled, Qureshi will not become a federal judge unless his nomination is approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Still, Muslim advocacy organizations celebrated Qureshi’s nomination and said that he would be the first Muslim-American to serve as a federal judge.

Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement that Qureshi’s nomination ‘‘sends a message of inclusion that is welcomed by the American Muslim community.’’

Qureshi’s law firm’s website says he graduated summa cum laude from Cornell in 1993 and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1997. Neither Qureshi nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.

Washington Post