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adeel mangi
The Bullying of Adeel Manji Tells Muslim Americans They Are 2nd Class Citizens
The treatment of the first Muslim federal appellate nominee sends a message to people of Muslim faith with aspirations for the federal bench: don’t bother, unless you, too, want to be branded as a terrorist-sympathizer.
Apr 10, 2024
President Joe Biden’s recent nomination of a Harvard-educated litigation partner from a white-shoe law firm to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit should have been pretty run of the mill, as far as judicial confirmation processes go.
But one aspect of the nominee’s bio has contorted what would likely otherwise have been an uneventful confirmation process into a grotesque spectacle: The nominee, Adeel Mangi, is a Muslim American of Pakistani descent. If confirmed, he would be the first Muslim federal appellate judge in the country.
No non-Muslim judicial nominee has been asked whether they condemn the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel, accused of celebrating 9/11, or asked to confirm that they condemn genocide.
It started at his confirmation hearings in December 2023, which his young children attended.
“Do you condemn the atrocities of the Hamas terrorists?” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked. “Is there any justification for those atrocities?”
“Do you believe that Zionist settler colonialism was a provocation that justified Hamas’ atrocity against Jews in Israel?” demanded Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) insinuated that Mangi “celebrate[s] 9/11,” rattling off a list of speakers invited to an event organized by Rutgers Law School’s Center for Security, Race, and Rights to commemorate the 2001 attacks—which Mangi did not attend, had no apparent role in organizing, and, he said, of which he was not even aware. Mangi had been a member of the center’s advisory board.
When Democrats had the floor, they revisited the topic to give Mangi an opportunity to denounce terrorism and genocide—which he did, repeatedly and unequivocally. But even in their friendly form, the questions left an impression that religious and racial stereotypes had hijacked the hearings.
“Is there any hesitation on your part to condemn genocide?" Peter Welch (D-Vt.) asked. “Is there any hesitation on your part to condemn any person who commits terrorist activities in violence toward innocent people?”
As the CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, Sheila Katz, put it: “It was a heartbreaking scene for the first Muslim American federal circuit judicial nominee to face relentless questioning on Israel, terrorism including September 11, and the Holocaust.”
This treatment is far outside the norm for nominees to the bench. No non-Muslim judicial nominee has been asked whether they condemn the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel, accused of celebrating 9/11, or asked to confirm that they condemn genocide.
Islamophobic questioning is not the only way Mangi’s treatment has departed from the average confirmation process. Republican senators have also given inordinate attention to Mangi’s record of pro bono service. He represented the family of an incarcerated man murdered by a correctional officer and is on the advisory board of Alliance of Families for Justice, a nonprofit that supports families impacted by mass incarceration that has advocated for the release of aging prisoners, including people convicted of killing police officers. The senators used this to say that he has “sympathy for, and association with, some of the most radical elements in society,” including, as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) put it, “those who support cop killers.”
This twisting of Mangi’s pro bono record to paint him as criminal-adjacent is shocking but not surprising. Diverse nominees—including people of color and women—are routinely grilled on their positions on civil rights and criminal justice more intensively than white men nominated to the bench. One study found that nominees of color like Mangi get more than twice as many questions on criminal justice as white nominees. And nominees with experience in public defense—an essential role in our legal system—face particularly brutal questioning. In recent history, these inquiries have increasingly sounded less like questioning and more like badgering of women and people of color about their public interest work, heavy with insinuation that representing marginalized people makes one unfit for the bench.
This is illustrated in the case of Arianna Freeman, a Biden nominee who became the first Black woman to serve on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Referring to her 12 years as a public defender, Cruz told her that she had “devoted [her] entire professional career to representing murderers, to representing rapists, representing child molesters.” He branded her a “zealot” for defending a man on death row—whose sentence the Supreme Court later overturned.
And during confirmation hearings for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said that she had a “long record” of letting child pornography offenders “off the hook,” referring to sentences that experts called mainstream. Republicans also criticized Jackson for representing Guantánamo Bay detainees, referring to her “advocacy for these terrorists.”
With Mangi’s hearings, then, senators are yet again issuing bad faith characterizations of the public interest work of a nominee who would increase the diversity of the federal bench. At this point, even if Mangi’s confirmation goes through—which is increasingly doubtful, as three Democrats have announced in recent weeks that they no longer support him—damage will have been done.
Most fundamentally, the bullying of a prominent Muslim American on the national stage tells all our Muslim friends and neighbors that they are second-class citizens. And it comes at a time when hatred is surging: reports of Islamophobia have doubled in recent months, antisemitism incidents have skyrocketed, and hate crimes in general have surged. So it is more important than ever that we take a strong stand against bias and othering of underrepresented groups.
More specifically, Mangi’s treatment sends a message to people of Muslim faith with aspirations for the federal bench: don’t bother, unless you, too, want to be branded as a terrorist-sympathizer—in front of the world and, as in Mangi’s case, your young children. The potential chilling effect on Muslim Americans vying for federal judgeships undermines the legitimacy and effectiveness of the judiciary.
As my colleagues have previously noted, a diverse bench leads to richer jurisprudence. That’s because judges with underrepresented personal and professional experiences bring important and relevant perspectives to the problems in front of them and push back on assumptions that a homogeneous panel might hold. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor put it, working with Justice Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights lawyer and the first Black justice, sometimes “change[d] the way [she saw] the world.”
On a more basic level, underrepresented communities are more likely to trust a diverse judiciary. This is important because courts derive their legitimacy from the public’s trust in them. “How can the public have confidence and trust in such an institution if it is segregated—if the communities it is supposed to protect are excluded from its ranks?” federal district court Judge Edward Chen once pondered.
Finally, the negative focus on Mangi’s pro bono record—especially on the heels of other hearings in which nominees have been disparaged for public interest work—casts that work in exactly the wrong light. Pro bono work should not be a political liability. To the contrary, it is the ethical obligation of every attorney to provide legal services to those who cannot afford them. And justice depends on it.
When someone loses a lawsuit, it is frequently not because their claim was meritless, but simply because they did not have a lawyer. In immigration removal hearings, for example, unaccompanied children without lawyers prevail only 15% of the time. By contrast, 73% of unaccompanied children with representation are allowed to remain in this country.
But, according to one study, in a whopping 92% of civil matters—from eviction to police brutality to discrimination—low-income Americans could not find legal representation. Pro bono practice by corporate lawyers like Mangi is crucial to filling the access to justice gap. We should be encouraging pro bono work, not giving talented young attorneys who dream of becoming judges a reason to avoid it.
Mangi’s confirmation process has been a blueprint for how not to treat a nominee for the federal bench. His hearing—and the subsequent campaign against him—has undermined our shared values of equality, inclusivity, and justice. We must do better.
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Islamophobic Smear Campaign Against 'Historic' Judicial Nominee Condemned
"We urge senators to assess Mr. Mangi's nomination based on his credentials and qualifications for the job, not his religion, race, or ethnicity."
Apr 02, 2024
A coalition of over 125 rights groups on Tuesday urged the U.S. Senate to vanquish an onslaught of Islamophobic attacks and confirm Adeel Mangi, who would be the first Muslim American to serve on a federal appeals court.
As some right-wing Democrats consider joining with Republicans to block his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, the groups explained in a letter to senators that they came together to support the Oxford- and Harvard-educated attorney, "highlight Mr. Mangi's tremendous qualifications, and condemn the baseless and bigoted attacks being waged against this exceptional and historic nominee."
"Mr. Mangi is fair-minded, brilliant, and has shown throughout his impressive legal career a steadfast dedication to equal justice for all, and he will be a tremendous judge on the 3rd Circuit," the coalition wrote of the Pakistani-born partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in December.
"History will remember this powerfully important moment for the future of equal justice in America."
Given his "impeccable qualifications" and the historic nature of his nomination, "an outstanding nominee like Adeel Mangi should be celebrated and embraced," the coalition argued. "The anti-Muslim tropes and unfounded assertions against him are the kinds of stereotyping that have long driven Islamophobia, which is on the rise. They also send a dangerous message to communities across the nation and potential future lawyers and judges that their path to the bench and desire to serve our nation will be obstructed by unfounded accusations based solely on their identity."
Since Israel responded to the Hamas-led October 7 attack by launching a U.S.-backed assault on the Gaza Strip that has been widely condemned as genocidal, there have been documented surges in both Islamophobic and antisemitic attacks in the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Tuesday that it received 8,061 complaints of Islamophobia nationwide last year—the most in CAIR's 30-year history—and they were largely driven by the war.
"Despite the anti-Muslim vitriol Mr. Mangi endured during his confirmation hearing, he repeatedly while under oath condemned antisemitism and terrorism with tremendous decorum and professionalism befitting the temperament sought for these important appointments to the federal bench," notes the letter. "He did so despite facing unfair, unfounded, and hostile questions, many of which were deeply offensive. Further, since his hearing, there has been a coordinated media campaign to amplify baseless attacks on his character."
"We urge senators to assess Mr. Mangi's nomination based on his credentials and qualifications for the job, not his religion, race, or ethnicity. We ask that senators denounce the Islamophobic attacks on Mr. Mangi and on all Muslims," the letter concludes. "History will remember this powerfully important moment for the future of equal justice in America."
Led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the coalition also includes the American Federation of Teachers, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Center for Constitutional Rights, Disability Rights Advocates, Earthjustice, Human Rights Campaign, Muslim Advocates, NAACP, National Congress of American Indians, National Homelessness Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Presente.org, and Women's March.
Along with several other national organizations, there are state and local groups such as Equality California, Florida Rising, Maine Conservation Voters, Make the Road Nevada, Progress Iowa, Stand Up Alaska, and multiple arms of the NAACP and National Council of Jewish Women.
The White House maintains support for Mangi. Asked about Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) opposing him, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that "we are doing everything that we can to make sure that he gets through. This Senate should side with qualities that make America exceptional, which Mr. Mangi embodies, not the hateful forces that we're seeing trying to force America into the past."
President Joe Biden's nomination of Mangi was announced on the same day as that of Nicole Berner, who previously worked for Planned Parenthood and the Service Employees International Union before she was confirmed to the 4th Circuit last month.
In a Monday op-ed for The Star-Ledger, Mattan Berner-Kadish—one of Berner's sons with ex-wife Ruti Kadish—wrote: "I am so proud of her and happy that her dream has come to fruition. I am unable, however, to fully celebrate her success."
"What is happening to Adeel Mangi... is a travesty, and when compared to my mother's process, puts in stark relief how incredible this nation can be, and how incredibly cruel it can be as well," Berner-Kadish asserted. "This is a kind, sweet, intelligent man who was thoroughly qualified to be a judge in this country—a judgment confirmed by the American Bar Association, which gave him its highest rating."
"I have no qualms saying that I hope 1,000 more judges like my mother are confirmed around the country. I don't mean lesbians, I don't mean Jews. I mean lawyers who are committed to pursuing public interest careers," he stressed. "I want judges who know what a day of work means for the average American, and how their companies and bosses treat them. I want judges who fought to keep innocent people out of jail. I want judges who worked to protect women's right to control their own bodies. I want judges who did not remove themself or their children from public schools, and know what education looks like for those who attend them. I want our judges to reflect America's diversity and experience."
"For all of those reasons, Adeel Mangi should be a judge right now," Berner-Kadish added. " I don't know if I would agree with all of his rulings, and I doubt he'd be as much of a liberal jurist as I would like. But there is no doubting his qualifications, his professionalism, his fairness, or his judicial temperament. Those aren't the things keeping him off the bench. Racism and Islamophobia are."
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'Insufferable Islamophobia': Senate Dems Could Help GOP Tank 1st Muslim Fed Appeals Judge
"A bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Senate is about to nix this judicial nominee because he's Muslim," one advocate said.
Mar 15, 2024
Progressive and Muslim rights organizations spoke out in support of federal appellate court nominee Adeel Mangi on Friday after news broke that enough U.S. Senate Democrats might vote with Republicans to scupper his appointment.
President Joe Biden nominated Mangi, a well-respected New York-based trial lawyer, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit on November 15. If confirmed, he would be the first Muslim to serve as a federal appeals judge. However, CNN reported on Thursday that several Senate Democrats and their staff had told the White House that there seemed to be insufficient votes to confirm him.
The news followed a controversial hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in December, in which Mangi, who was born in Pakistan, was asked to comment on both the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel. While the committee voted to advance him along party lines, the outcome of a full Senate vote is now in question.
"Someone as qualified as Adeel Mangi should have broad and enthusiastic support from the whole Senate."
"A bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Senate is about to nix this judicial nominee because he's Muslim," Jameel Jaffer, the director of Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute, posted on social media in response to the news.
Human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid said on social media that the move to vote against him was "insufferable Islamophobia and cowardice."
Rashid pointed out that seven of the judges nominated by former President Donald Trump were rated as "not qualified" by the American Bar Association (ABA), yet the Senate still voted to confirm them. Mangi, on the other hand, is "highly qualified" and "highly rated" and "instead even Senate Democrats are running away from him."
The ABA rates Mangi as "well-qualified," and Benchmark Litigation placed him on its 2024 and 2023 lists of the "Top 100 Trial Lawyers" in the country. He earned law degrees from both Oxford and Harvard and has had a successful career both representing corporate clients at the law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb, and Tyler and taking on pro bono cases.
One of his prominent pro bono victories involved Muslim communities who had been barred from building a mosque in two New Jersey towns. In another, he secured a settlement for the family of Karl Taylor, who died in a New York prison after being attacked by guards.
"Someone as qualified as Adeel Mangi should have broad and enthusiastic support from the whole Senate," People for the American Way posted in response to the CNN story. "Mangi has spent his career working pro bono for people who couldn't afford a lawyer and would be the first Muslim judge on the 3rd Circuit."
Muslim advocacy group Emgage Action urged the public to support Mangi's nomination and criticized the "overtly Islamophobic questioning" at his confirmation hearings.
"Call on your senators to swiftly move forward with his confirmation and advocate for Adeel Mangi's suitability for the federal bench!" the group said on social media.
One of the most vocal Republican opponents of Mangi's nomination is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Cruz was the one to ask him if he condemned "the atrocities of the Hamas terrorists," to which Mangi responded that the events of October 7 were "a horror." When Cruz then asked if he thought the attacks could be justified, Mangi answered, "I have no patience, none, for any attempts to justify or defend those events."
Cruz and other Republicans also questioned Mangi on his membership of the advisory board for the Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights, which they claimed supported antisemitism because of speakers it had hosted, as NorthJersey.com reported. In response, Mangi said the advisory board only met once annually and discussed the center's academic research, not its programming.
At the time, Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats denounced the Republicans' line of questioning on social media.
"Senate Judiciary Republicans reached a new low, hurling unfounded accusations of antisemitism at an historic Muslim American judicial nominee today. In fact, Adeel Mangi is a longtime advocate for religious liberty," the Democratic committee members wrote.
Several Jewish American groups have backed Mangi's nomination, and even the Anti-Defamation League, which has been criticized for adopting an overly broad definition of antisemitism that stigmatizes legitimate criticisms of Israeli policies, defended him against the Republican line of questioning.
"Just as associating Jewish Americans with certain views or beliefs regarding Israeli government actions would be deemed antisemitic, berating the first American Muslim federal appellate judicial nominee with endless questions that appear to have been motivated by bias toward his religion is profoundly wrong," the group wrote in a January statement.
In a social media post on Friday, Cruz seemed to steer his opposition to Mangi away from anything that could be construed as Islamophobic to instead paint him as a radical. Cruz shared a letter opposing his confirmation from the National Troopers Coalition over Mangi's role as an advisory board member of the Alliance of Families for Justice, which supports the family members of incarcerated individuals. However, the coalition argued Mangi's role on the board showed an anti-law enforcement bias.
"He is so far left that even some Democrats are opposing his nomination," Cruz wrote.
In response to the news that Democrats might vote against Mangi, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told CNN that the administration "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 called 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."
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