Biden judicial nominee’s chances wane with key senator’s opposition: ‘Deeply concerning’ – Washington Examiner

A federal judicial nominee under fire for sitting on the boards of an anti-Israel think tank and a group that sought to free police killers looks increasingly doomed in the Senate.

The White House continues to rally behind Adeel Mangi, President Joe Biden‘s pick for a spot on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. However, a key lawmaker came out in opposition on Tuesday evening to the nomination of Mangi, a New Jersey lawyer who currently helps advise the anti-police group Alliance of Families for Justice and who previously was affiliated with a Rutgers Law School center that hosted a 2021 event featuring a convicted Palestinian terrorist fundraiser.

“I cannot support this nominee,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) said in a statement on Tuesday, Politico reported. “My concern is with respect to the organization that supports individuals who kill police officers.”

Cortez Masto, the former chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Mangi’s role advising the Alliance of Families for Justice “is deeply concerning.” Should every Republican and Cortez Masto oppose Mangi, the nominee would need support from all remaining senators who caucus with Democrats, and Vice President Kamala Harris could be required to cast a tiebreaking vote.

That could be a tough feat — given some senators have reportedly expressed reservations in private about Mangi.

“This organization has sponsored a fellowship in the name of Kathy Boudin, a member of the domestic terrorist organization Weather Underground, and advocated for the release of individuals convicted of killing police officers,” Cortez Masto said.

Meanwhile, the nomination’s uncertainty comes after a March Washington Examiner report based on internal documents about Mangi’s participation in the 2022 conference for the National Association of Muslim Lawyers alongside a Rutgers professor. The event featured people at groups that have openly sympathized with Palestinian terrorists.

Circuit Court Judge nominee Adeel Mangi testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Dec. 13, 2023. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Days after that story, Mangi sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to apologize for not disclosing his participation in the conference, the Washington Examiner reported.

“I do not have any notes, transcript, or recording of this panel discussion,” Mangi wrote in the letter. “I apologize for the inadvertent omission of this event, and I appreciate the Senate’s ongoing consideration of my nomination.”

According to left-wing opinion writers, scrutiny of Mangi’s ties to the anti-Israel Rutgers center amounts to Islamophobia.

“Republicans have attempted to smear him as an antisemitic terrorist sympathizer — a charge as baseless as it is unsurprising, considering its source,” ex-prosecutor Jordan Rubin wrote in MSNBC on Tuesday.

New York Times opinion columnist Lydia Polgreen asserted in an article titled “The Islamophobic Smear Campaign Dividing Democrats” that the conservative Judicial Crisis Network is leading a “smear campaign” against Mangi. The group previously announced an ad buy slamming the nomination.

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In a statement on Tuesday, the White House once more expressed its support for Mangi.

“Every Senate Democrat should side with the qualities that make America exceptional — which Mr. Mangi embodies — not the hateful forces trying to force America into the past,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

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