Manchin Announces Opposition to Muslim Circuit Court Nominee

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he’ll oppose Adeel Mangi’s nomination to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, further imperiling the prospects for the historic Muslim appointment.

Manchin also said Thursday he’ll continue to oppose any of Joe Biden’s judicial nominees that Senate Republicans are universally voting against without being “a roadblock.”

“I don’t think he has any bipartisan support,” Manchin told reporters of Mangi’s prospects. “I’ve just come to the conclusion that I’m not going to continue to go down this path” of confirming judges with lifetime appointments on party-line votes.

Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada on Tuesday was the first Democrat to say she opposed Mangi, based on his ties to a group conservatives have called an anti-police organization. Democrats’ 51-49 Senate majority means they can’t lose any more votes within their caucus, should all Republicans vote against the nomination.

Several Democrats up for reelection this year in close races including Jon Tester of Montana have remained non-committal about Mangi, a Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler litigation partner who was born in Karachi, Pakistan.

The White House has stood by Mangi, citing letters of support from other law enforcement groups, and urged Senate Democrats to vote for him.

“Senate Democrats 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 Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday. “The president’s proud to have nominated him and we’re doing everything that we can working, talking to congressional members, congressional staff, obviously in the Senate, to move forward with his nomination process.”

Republican Pressure

Mangi serves on the advisory board of the Alliance of Families for Justice, an organization co-founded by Kathy Boudin. She was convicted of felony murder for her role in a Brink’s armored truck robbery in Nanuet, New York, that led to the deaths of two police officers in 1981.

Republicans have highlighted letters from law enforcement organizations raising concerns about Mangi while also criticizing his prior membership on the advisory board at Rutgers Law School.

The school’s Center for Security, Race and Rights held a controversial event commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in 2021. Conservatives also alleged the center has platformed anti-Israel and antisemitic speech.

At his Dec. 13 confirmation hearing, Mangi said that he only advised the center on academic research issues for a board that meets once a year, and that he was neither involved or aware of the events and rhetoric characterized by Republicans as radical. He left the board in 2023, before Hamas’ initial deadly attacks and the ensuing war between the terrorist group and Israel.

He also repeatedly condemned terrorism, antisemitism, and the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks as “a horror involving the deaths of innocent civilians. He hasn’t addressed his affiliation with the Alliance of Families for Justice.

In a floor speech on Thursday, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) touted support for Mangi from the Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate organization.

“To accuse a nominee of being anti-Semitic is heartbreaking when it’s not true, and in this case it clearly is not true,” Durbin said.

“We should be fair to every nominee, whether proposed by a Democratic or Republican president, and we should not have any prejudice or bigotry when it comes to a person because of their religious beliefs,” Durbin said.

GOP Preference

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday Republicans “will continue to oppose the nominee who has repeatedly chosen instead to mingle with supporters of terrorists and cop-killers.”

McConnell suggested the White House instead nominate to the appellate vacancy Biden appointee Zahid Quraishi, whose 81-16 confirmation vote in 2021 to the District of New Jersey made him the first Muslim life-tenured federal judge.

“I hope more Democrats will join us in opposing Mr. Mangi,” McConnell said. “And should they fall victim to spurious accusations of bias, perhaps they should remind the White House of an alternative candidate, rested and ready, in the federal courthouse in Trenton, New Jersey.”

The White House has criticized Republican attacks on Mangi as a “cruel, Islamophobic, smear campaign.”