President Biden’s pick for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has been challenged enough to be confirmed by the Senate amid growing concerns over ties to groups associated with alleged criminals and anti-Semites. They are in danger of not getting the votes.
Mr. Adeel Mangi is a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP and received his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 2000. His nomination will be Biden’s first. If confirmed, Mangi would be the only Muslim serving on a federal appeals court.
But Senate Republicans and Democrats have expressed concerns about the nominee in recent days, putting his confirmation in jeopardy. Because the Senate is nearly evenly divided, Mangi will likely need the support of all three independents, as well as all Democrats.
President Biden has nominated Adeel Mangi to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, but his confirmation may be blocked by Democrats frustrated by the controversy surrounding him. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Mangi is affiliated with both Rutgers Law School’s Center on Security, Race, and Rights (CSRR) and Families Alliance for Justice (AFJ), both of which have controversial records.
CSRR has hosted numerous speakers who have denounced anti-Semitism, including advocacy group Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey and watchdog group Judicial Crisis Network (JCN). Speakers included Associate Professor Noura Erakat, who was touted to take part in a panel discussion with senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad in 2020. Many of the center’s events that have sparked public backlash occurred specifically after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
The group also welcomed speakers who have been accused by JCN and others of being sympathetic to terrorists linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.
Mangi served on the organization’s advisory board from 2019 to 2023.
AFJ also has connections that some lawmakers are concerned about. One of its founding directors, Kathy Boudin, was a member of the FBI-designated domestic terrorist organization Weather Underground and pleaded guilty to killing two police officers and a security guard during an armored truck robbery in 1981. .
Mr. Mangi is listed as a current advisory board member of AFJ.
President Biden’s 3rd Circuit nominee Adeel Abdullah Mangi speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing in Washington, DC, December 13, 2023. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Mr. Mangi’s affiliation with Families Alliance for Justice is extremely concerning,” Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
“This organization has sponsored groups in the name of Kathy Boudin, a member of the domestic terrorist group Weather Underground, and has advocated for the release of individuals convicted of killing police officers. I support this candidate. Can not.”
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Cortez Masto’s potential defection could upend Biden’s efforts to confirm Mangi. The Nevada senator revealed Tuesday that she was one of the Democrats who privately warned Biden about his lack of support for his candidacy. Previous reports said several senators had told the White House that Mangi might not receive enough votes for confirmation.
Many Democratic senators, including Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey and Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin, declined to say whether they supported Mangi’s nomination. Both men plan to run for re-election in the November election.
“Once the vote is scheduled, we will discuss it at that time,” Casey said.
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The Pennsylvania senator declined to say whether he had concerns about the nominee.
“I will seriously consider all candidates,” Baldwin said. “We are considering it now.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin attends a press conference after meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol on November 29, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has already expressed concerns about Mangi.
“It’s becoming clearer by the day that Mr. Mangi doesn’t have the votes to get confirmation,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. “And President Biden was foolish to nominate someone with a history of justifying and apologizing for 9/11 and serving on the boards of organizations that have welcomed radical terrorists into their programs.”
The only question left, he said, is “how long the White House will leave Mangi alone.”
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At the same time, a number of Democratic lawmakers reiterated their plans to support Mangi in interviews on Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.) said he intended to vote to confirm Mr. Biden’s nominee “as I did on the committee.”
President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 15, 2023. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“There’s no need to worry,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said of her support for Mangi.
But with the Senate so divided, it only takes a few Democratic votes to block his confirmation, potentially rendering support from the rest of the caucus meaningless.
Republican efforts to highlight Mangi’s controversy culminated Wednesday with Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., calling on Biden to withdraw the nomination. did.
“It has been my long-standing position that I have great respect for executive appointments of both parties, especially judicial appointments,” he said in a press release. “But it’s clear that concerns about this nomination are widespread and not just among Senate Republicans.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) arrives on the Senate Metro and speaks with members of the media during voting at the U.S. Capitol on February 7, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We urge President Biden to seriously listen to these concerns and withdraw Mr. Mangi’s nomination.”
The White House defended the president’s choice of court in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“President Biden is proud to have nominated Adeel Mangi. Mr. Mangi’s extraordinary qualifications and integrity make him the seventh law enforcement agency to support his confirmation and appointment by the President. We’re gaining new endorsements every day, including former circuit judge Timothy Lewis, “George H.W. Bush,” White House press secretary Andrew Bates said.
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He claimed that Mangi “has become the target of a malicious and debunked smear campaign simply because he makes history as the first Muslim to serve as a federal appellate judge.”
Bates also urged Senate Democrats to “stand for the qualities that make America exceptional, which Mangi embodies, rather than the hateful forces that seek to push America back into the past.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to CSRR, AFJ and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, where Mr. Mangi is a partner, for comment.
