Alejandro, Nitza I. Quinones, 1951-

Nitza Ileana Quiñones Alejandro (born January 1951) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Quiñones Alejandro is the first lesbian Latina to be appointed to serve as a federal judge.

Quiñones was born in Puerto Rico. She grew up in a military family. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree, cum laude, in 1972 from the University of Puerto Rico, having attended Central Michigan University as an exchange student for part of her undergraduate education. She received her Juris Doctor in 1975 from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law. She moved from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia after graduating law school. She began her career as a staff attorney for Community Legal Services, Inc. in Philadelphia from 1975 to 1977. She worked as an Attorney Advisor for the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 1977 to 1979. She worked as a staff attorney for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs from 1979 to 1991.

On November 27, 2012, President Barack Obama nominated Quiñones to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to the seat vacated by Judge Richard Barclay Surrick, who took senior status on February 1, 2011. The nomination was made on the recommendation of Senator Bob Casey, Jr. She is the first Latina lesbian to be nominated to a federal judgeship. Her nomination was confirmed by voice vote on June 13, 2013. She received her commission on June 19, 2013.