Black GOP-Appointed Former Judge Steps In To Defend Biden’s Muslim Court Pick

WASHINGTON ― A Black former U.S. appeals courtroom choose appointed by President George W. Bush privately reached out to Senate leaders this month to induce them to substantiate President Joe Biden’s Muslim judicial decide Adeel Mangi, saying he’s “deeply disturbed” by the GOP’s ugly and baseless assaults on him.

In a letter obtained by HuffPost and despatched final week to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), former federal choose Timothy Lewis mentioned he felt compelled to succeed in out due to how badly Mangi has been handled in his affirmation course of in comparison with what Lewis skilled in his.

“I have been deeply disturbed by the unfounded and disturbing attacks against Adeel Mangi, and I strongly support his nomination,” mentioned Lewis.

“This is a nominee who should — and ordinarily would — have widespread bipartisan support,” he mentioned. “Instead, he is being subjected to attacks against his character. His accusers claim he supports terrorism and is anti-Semitic. Those allegations are absolutely unfounded.”

The letter comes as Democratic help for Mangi — who can be the first-ever Muslim appeals courtroom choose if confirmed — seems to be shaky amid a wave of deceptive and Islamophobic assaults from Republicans.

Some Senate Democratic aides advised HuffPost on Friday they weren’t certain if he had the votes to get confirmed.

“I think it will be very tough at this point,” one aide, who requested anonymity to talk frankly about intra-party disputes, conceded.

Lewis was a choose for seven years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the third Circuit, the identical courtroom to which Mangi has been nominated. Like Mangi, he was a judicial nominee in a presidential election yr, in 1992. And like Mangi, he was a historic decide. He was certainly one of two Black judges nominated to an appeals courtroom by Bush. The different was then-D.C. Circuit nominee Clarence Thomas.

Mangi is a 23-year civil litigator primarily based in New Jersey. He was unanimously rated well-qualified by the American Bar Association and has been praised by various organizations, together with the AFL-CIO, the Coalition of Underrepresented Law Enforcement Associations and greater than a dozen Jewish teams, for each his authorized and pro-bono work.

But for months, Mangi has been the goal of blatantly Islamophobic assaults by Republican senators and right-wing teams just like the Judicial Crisis Network. This group has run advertisements accusing Mangi of being a “radical” and an “antisemite,” and of being concerned in a corporation’s efforts to show college students “to hate Israel, to hate America and to support global terrorism.” None of that is true.

“I cannot help but contrast Mr. Mangi’s experience as a nominee with my own,” Lewis mentioned in his letter to Senate leaders. ”I used to be handled with respect not simply by senators of the social gathering of the president who nominated me, but in addition by the Democratic senators who held the bulk. I used to be confirmed by unanimous consent lower than a month earlier than Election Day.”

Lewis warned {that a} Senate rejection of Mangi would have a “toxic long-term impact on the entire federal judiciary.” He urged that individuals from underrepresented communities “are likely to think twice” about accepting a judicial nomination in the event that they consider they are going to be unfairly attacked and stereotyped in the way in which that Mangi has been.

“It does not have to be this way,” he mentioned.

You can learn Lewis’ full letter right here:

Conservatives’ efforts to solid Mangi as antisemitic appeared to lose traction after Jewish teams rose up in his protection, in order that they’ve pivoted to a brand new assault: portray him as an enemy of legislation enforcement. Judicial Crisis Network president Carrie Severino has been aggressively pushing a story that Mangi helps an “anti-law enforcement group,” the Alliance of Families for Justice, on whose advisory board he has served since 2019.

Severino and different Republicans are accusing Mangi of supporting the killing of cops as a result of Alliance of Families for Justice in 2021 advocated for the parole of ageing Black Panther members like Mumia Abu-Jamal, who caught COVID-19 in jail and was susceptible to dying. Abu-Jamal has been in jail since 1981 after being convicted of killing a police officer. (His conviction has been the topic of a long time of scrutiny, and teams like Amnesty International have lengthy argued he by no means received a good trial and deserves a brand new one.)

The false narrative about Mangi has gotten so twisted that it bears no resemblance to what this group does or what his connection is to it. AFJ is a nonprofit that gives counseling providers to relations of people that have been incarcerated. It offers providers like arranging care packages, ensuring folks have enough visitation and offering housing reentry or authorized help when folks get out.

Mangi’s connection to it is rather free. In 2020, his legislation agency, Patterson Belknap, took on a wrongful dying case referred by AFJ that concerned a mentally ailing inmate who was killed by a correctional officer. Mangi took the lead within the case and gained, incomes the inmate’s household the biggest settlement in New York state historical past.

Given the massive success of this case, AFJ requested Mangi to affix its advisory board. He joined, however by no means took one other case from the group.

This is what has been distorted into accusations that Mangi helps cop-killers. GOP operatives have been lobbying legislation enforcement teams to publicly oppose Mangi on these grounds. Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), who was already extremely offensive in his remedy of Mangi in his nomination listening to, at the moment are amplifying these assaults.

But Cruz and different Senate Republicans are hoping no person notices the hypocrisy in what they’re doing: just about all of them voted ― twice ― to substantiate judges appointed by President Donald Trump who beforehand did authorized work straight on behalf of individuals convicted of killing cops.

Senate Republicans overwhelmingly voted in 2018 to substantiate Ryan Nelson to his present seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Nelson labored on a case, Dean v. United States, and mentioned in his Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire that it was an “honor” to characterize Marthell Dean in two consolidated appeals. Dean was convicted of murdering D.C. police officer Brian Gibson as Gibson sat in his patrol automobile.

Senate Republicans additionally overwhelmingly voted in 2019 to substantiate Anuraag Singhal to his present seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Singhal represented Jeffrey Lee Weaver, who was charged with murdering Fort Lauderdale police officer Bryant Peney. News protection of this case described Singhal crying as he argued in favor of life imprisonment for Weaver, moderately than the dying sentence.

“I hope you can find some love in your heart for Jeff Weaver,” Singhal mentioned with tears in his eyes, “and I hope you’ll let him die in prison.”

Lewis’ determination to weigh in on Mangi’s nomination seems to be in response to the egregious distortions of his file. It’s uncommon for federal judges, present or former, to become involved in one other judicial nominee’s affirmation course of.

He mentioned as a lot in his letter to Schumer and McConnell: “Mr. Mangi bears no resemblance whatsoever to the caricature being painted of him in some quarters.”

“Unfortunately, there is a constituency in this current politicized environment for such a smear campaign directed at someone who would become the first Muslim American ever to serve on a federal appellate court,” Lewis mentioned. “But this is not a constituency whose fears and ignorance any United States senator should entertain, let alone advance.”

For the second, Mangi’s nomination could also be in bother. But the White House continues to be strongly supporting him and lobbying senators to vote for him.

“President Biden is proud to have chosen Adeel Mangi, an extraordinarily qualified nominee who is devoted to the rule of law, lived the American dream through hard work, proven his integrity, and would make history on the bench,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates advised HuffPost in an announcement.

“Mr. Mangi was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the White House continues to fight for his confirmation and to repudiate the vicious hate and bigotry with which he has been targeted because of his Muslim faith,” Bates mentioned. “Senior staff are calling members on his behalf every day, and no senator should cave to hateful, undignified lies.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who really useful Mangi to the White House for this courtroom seat, mentioned he’s ready to combat to get Mangi’s nomination throughout the end line.

“Adeel Mangi is an exceptional nominee. He is a person of integrity and deep conviction with an unflinching commitment to fairness and equality,” he advised HuffPost in an announcement.

“Since his nomination, Adeel Mangi has been subjected to an outrageous and unrelenting campaign of ugly, untrue Islamophobic smears,” Booker mentioned. “I know the White House, Senate Democratic leaders, and I stand behind Adeel Mangi 100 percent and look forward to the confirmation of America’s first Muslim federal appeals court judge.”