WASHINGTON (CN) — More than 100 public policy, labor and advocacy organizations banded together Tuesday to urge the Senate to confirm Third Circuit nominee Adeel Mangi, labeling attacks on the prospective federal judge as “manufactured and baseless.”
In a letter to lawmakers led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the groups positioned Mangi as “eminently qualified” for the circuit court bench and took aim at what they said was unfair and patently Islamophobic scrutiny of his background.
If confirmed, Mangi, who is Pakistani American, would be the first Muslim judge to serve on a federal appellate court.
“We urge senators to assess Mr. Mangi’s nomination based on his credentials and qualifications for the job, not his religion, race or ethnicity,” the groups wrote.
The American Federation of Labor, the Center for American Progress and the NAACP were among the 125 organizations who joined in backing the Third Circuit nominee.
For months, Republican lawmakers and conservative advocacy organizations have campaigned for the Senate— tasked with confirming judicial nominees — to reject Mangi’s appointment.
Opponents of the nominee have pointed out that he served on the advisory board of Alliance for Families for Justice, a criminal justice reform group that worked on behalf of incarcerated people. Lawmakers have also taken issue with his past affiliation with a controversial Rutgers University research program.
While experts have described these connections as tenuous — and Mangi has sought to establish himself separately from the programs in question — the Republican-led campaign appears to have made the nominee’s confirmation an open question.
At least three Senate Democrats — West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, alongside Nevada senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto — have signaled that they would vote against Mangi if his nomination was brought up for a floor vote.
Cortez Masto cited aspersions about the nominee’s work with the criminal justice reform group as the reason for her defection. Manchin has separately said that he will no longer back White House judicial nominees who don’t attract at least one Republican vote.
If the trio of lawmakers hold firm, it all but dooms Mangi’s nomination on the Senate floor, where Democrats hold only a slim majority.
Writing to senators Tuesday, the fleet of advocacy groups supporting the nominee implored lawmakers not to bend to the will of “manufactured and baseless attacks that should never be endured by any nominee.”
“The anti-Muslim tropes and unfounded assertions against him are the kinds of stereotyping that have long driven Islamophobia, which is on the rise,” the letter read.
The groups contended that allowing conservative attacks on Mangi to sink his nomination would also send a dangerous message to Muslim communities across the country, especially among potential lawyers and judges, who they said “will be obstructed by unfounded accusations based solely on their identity.”
“Anti-Muslim bigotry should not receive reinforcement in the Senate, where senators have the constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on who serves in our federal judiciary,” they said.
The White House and some Senate Democrats have also accused opponents of Mangi’s nomination of dealing in Islamophobia, pointing to attempts to tie the nominee to terrorism.
Republican lawmakers have complained that the Rutgers research program which he advised hosted an event featuring an academic scholar who was convicted of aiding a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
During a December confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mangi condemned terrorism and argued that his role on the Rutgers advisory board was limited. He met only annually with his fellow board members, the nominee said, and they only discussed potential areas of academic focus for the program.
Reiterating their support for the Third Circuit nominee, the organizations wrote that Mangi is “fair-minded, brilliant and has shown throughout his impressive legal career a steadfast dedication to equal justice for all.” They cited his work at New York law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler as well as his “significant” pro bono legal practice.
Mangi’s confirmation would also be a historic milestone for the judiciary, the letter said. “This milestone is long overdue,” the nominee’s supporters wrote, “and an outstanding nominee like Adeel Mangi should be celebrated and embraced.”
Senators Manchin, Cortez Masto and Rosen — who as of Tuesday still opposed Mangi’s nomination — did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mangi was tapped by the White House in November to fill a vacancy on the Third Circuit, which hears cases from lower courts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Biden administration has stood by his nomination.
Senator Dick Durbin, Senate majority whip and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Courthouse News in March that he was unsure whether Mangi had the votes to be confirmed. As of Tuesday, his nomination has yet to be scheduled for a floor vote.
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