US

Biden White House Defends Judicial Nominee Questioned Over Previous Affiliation With Anti-Israel Org

Photo courtesy of René DeAnda/Unsplash

The White House is defending a federal judicial nominee who has come under fire for previously sitting on the advisory board of an anti-Israel organization, claiming opposition to his appointment is due to his “Muslim faith,” according to a statement.

Adeel Abdullah Mangi, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, sat on the Rutgers Law School’s Center for Security, Race and Rights’ advisory board from 2019 to 2023. Republicans have slammed his affiliation with the organization based on its “antisemitic extremism,” citing examples like a statement the organization issued blaming Israel for Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack and an event it co-sponsored on the anniversary of Sept. 11 to “challenge” the narrative of the attack.

“The White House stands 100 percent behind Mr. Mangi and we call on the Senate to swiftly confirm him,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Mr. Mangi has been subjected to uniquely hostile attacks, in a way other nominees have not — precisely because of his Muslim faith.”

The Center for Security, Race and Rights has accused Israel of “genocidal [violence] against Palestinians.” Weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, it tweeted that assessing “Hamas’s October 7th operation and the Israeli regime’s subsequent response in isolation is to ignore over 75 years of colonial violence and the horrific consequences born out of these decades of oppression and attempted erasure.”

Mangi said in December that the board only met once a year and that he had not heard of the event it hosted on the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11 prior to the hearing, according to Courthouse News.

The White House is in full blown panic mode over radical judicial nominee Adeel Mangi’s nomination.

They’re mobilizing left-wing groups to save Mangi after he’s been exposed for his ties to antisemitic & anti-police groups.

He should never be confirmed.pic.twitter.com/aceV80wFz9 https://t.co/rr6fCmxalP

— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) March 6, 2024

Other organizations, like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and Coalition of the Underrepresented Law Enforcement Associations, have also advocated for Mangi’s appointment, according to Politico.

“[T]his nominee served on the board of a law school organization with an international reputation for amplifying the voices of anti-Semites and terrorist sympathizers,” Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said in January.

“Unfortunately, the nominee’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee last month did nothing to assuage these concerns,” McConnell continued. “In fact, even after claiming ignorance of the disgusting and well-documented history of the organization with which he chose to affiliate, he declined repeatedly to disavow it.”

Bates said that Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas “owe Mr. Mangi an apology” for questioning him on his views.

The Biden administration distanced itself in December from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) after its director said he was “happy to see people breaking the siege” in Gaza on Oct. 7, the day Hamas killed over 1,400 people in an attack.

“Mr. Mangi has forcefully and repeatedly condemned antisemitism, terrorism, and the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks,” Bates said. He added that Mangi has “won praise from organizations from across the political spectrum, including leading Jewish organizations.”

Mangi and Rutgers Law School’s Center for Security, Race and Rights didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from the White House.