Historic Muslim Appellate Pick Advances Despite Republican Anger

Partisan tensions flared at a Senate Judiciary meeting where Democrats advanced a nominee who’d be the first Muslim federal appellate judge despite fierce Republican objection characterized as a “new low” for the committee.

The Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 on Thursday to send the nomination of Adeel Mangi for a New Jersey seat on the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to the full Senate for consideration.

Prior to the vote, Republicans renewed their sharp criticism of Mangi that began at his confirmation hearing Dec. 13, and called his responses to their initial inquiries and follow-up questions unsatisfactory.

Led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Republicans have focused on questioning Mangi’s views on pro-Palestinian sentiments and the Israel-Hamas war, and his association with a Rutgers law school organization that hosted controversial speakers for events on 9/11 and the Middle East.

Mangi said during his confirmation hearing that he only advised the law school’s Center for Security, Race and Rights on academic research issues and wasn’t involved in events characterized by Republicans as radical.

Mangi had also condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel as “a horror involving the deaths of innocent civilians. I have no patience for any attempts to justify or defend those events.”

Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) slammed the line of questioning as a “new low” for the committee, and defended Mangi against suggestions he was antisemitic.

Other Democrats also called out their GOP colleagues. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said the scrutiny was a distortion and smacked of guilt by association similar to the McCarthyism anti-communist campaign of the 1950s.

Durbin’s comments prompted a sharp retort from Cruz, who accused his fellow committee member of impugning his character. Other Republicans also pushed back on accusations that their criticisms were based on Mangi’s Muslim background.

“I resent the insinuation that those of us who asked him questions are somehow anti-Muslim or prejudiced in some way—I think it’s outrageous,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

Fourth Circuit

The Judiciary panel also advanced the nomination of Nicole Berner, general counsel for the Service Employees International Union, for a Baltimore seat on the Fourth Circuit along party lines, 11-10.

Berner faced similar Republican scrutiny about her handling of sexual misconduct allegations made by a member of one of the organization’s local chapters.

In addition, a slew of red state trial court nominees were approved with bipartisan support, including in states such as Florida, South Carolina, and Indiana.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) praised the nominations as successful products of bipartisan cooperation between the White House and Republican senators. He also denounced calls by progressives to do away with Senate Judiciary tradition that requires home-state senator support for trial court nominees.

“I know collaboration is hard. And some of the radical factions on the left want to blow up every institutional norm, including the filibuster, but as you know, it’s an important institution and prerogative to have home-state senator weigh in on judicial nominees,” he said.

The remaining nominees approved were Joe Biden picks who’d already been voted out of committee but were resubmitted by the White House this month.

They include selections for trial courts in California, Oregon, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and appellate choices for the First Circuit in New Hampshire and the Seventh Circuit in Indiana.