The first Muslim American to be nominated for a federal appellate court judgeship formally withdrew his name and lashed out at senators and the judicial confirmation process in a letter to President Biden on Monday, saying he had been the victim of a bigoted smear campaign.
Adeel Mangi, a New York lawyer picked for a spot on the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, wrote the letter after Democratic senators cut a deal that in effect left him and other Biden appeals court nominees with no path to confirmation.
“This unfortunate fact remains: We have a fundamentally broken process for choosing federal judges,” Mr. Mangi wrote. “This is no longer a system for evaluating fitness for judicial office. It is now a channel for the raising of money based on performative McCarthyism before video cameras, and for the dissemination of dark-money-funded attacks that especially target minorities.”
The nomination of the Pakistani-born Mr. Mangi stalled under withering assault from Republicans who grilled him over his position on Israel, whether he supported Hamas and his view of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack by Al Qaeda. But the insurmountable obstacle was the refusal of at least three Democrats to support him, leaving him short of the votes needed for confirmation.
Senate Democrats recently agreed to a year-end deal to drop attempts to push through his nomination and those of three other circuit court picks whose support was in doubt. In exchange, Republicans agreed to limit procedural roadblocks to confirming remaining district court nominees. That would pave the way for the Senate this week to confirm the 235th judge of Mr. Biden’s tenure, surpassing the total placed on the bench during President-elect Donald J. Trump’s first term and hitting a benchmark Democrats have long had in their sights.
In his angrily worded letter, Mr. Mangi acknowledged that there was “no pathway” for his confirmation and he assailed the politically driven attacks to which he was subjected, which he attributed to his Muslim faith. He noted that when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in November 2023, he faced no scrutiny about his legal qualifications or ideology.
“Instead, I was asked questions about Israel, whether I supported Hamas, and whether I celebrated the anniversary of 9-11,” he said in the letter. “Even more revealing, however, was the tone. The underlying premise appeared to be that because I am Muslim, surely I support terrorism and celebrate 9-11.”
During that session, Mr. Mangi faced aggressive questioning from Republicans about his role on an advisory panel to the Rutgers University Center for Security, Race and Rights.
Two Democrats from Nevada, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Senator Jacky Rosen, who was in a tough re-election fight, later said they were troubled by Mr. Mangi’s membership on the advisory panel of the Alliance of Families for Justice. The organization, which supports family members of incarcerated people, has called for the release of some individuals convicted of killing police officers, but Mr. Mangi said he had only a tangential relationship to the organization.
Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a Democrat turned Independent, was also counted as an opponent of the nomination since he had said he would not vote for nominees who lacked bipartisan support.
Mr. Mangi called the attacks on him ludicrous and noted that he won the backing of some top law enforcement officials as well as Jewish groups. But he could not overcome opposition that included floor statements by Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, who accused the nominee of “associations with terrorist apologists and advocates for cop-killers.”
Top Senate Democrats vigorously defended Mr. Mangi and protested the Republican onslaught. They had hoped his nomination could get a second look following the election. But necessary support remained elusive and the nominee lamented that he now would not even get a floor vote.
“My family and I were put through this astonishing prolonged process, and yet in the end denied even a vote requiring senators to show who they are,” he wrote. “The strength of the Senate’s collective commitment to principle stands revealed.”
“For my part,” he concluded his letter, “I entered this nomination process as a proud American and a proud Muslim. I exit it the same way, unbowed.”
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