The Senate voted to confirm Zahid Quraishi to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, making him the first Muslim American federal judge in U.S. history.

Quraishi, the third judicial nominee from President Joe Biden to be confirmed to the federal bench, was approved in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 81-16 vote in the Senate.

"Mr. Quraishi will be the first American Muslim in United States history to serve as an Article III federal judge," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote. "The third largest religion in the United States, and he will become the first to ever serve as an Article III judge."

"We must expand not only demographic diversity, but professional diversity, and I know that President Biden agrees with me on this, and this will be something that I will set out to do," the New York Democrat added.

"This is an extraordinary moment, and I'm glad this is a bipartisan moment," N.J. Sen. Cory Booker said ahead of the vote.

"This is history here," he added. "America has never before had an Article III judge that also happens to be Muslim. Never before happened. His actions have shown his love for America."

Quraishi was a military prosecutor, rising to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army. He was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2006. Quraishi later went on to serve as the U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

The Senate also voted Thursday 52-46 to advance the nomination of D.C. District Court judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, setting her up for a final confirmation vote.

She would succeed Merrick Garland, who currently serves as Attorney General.