Jewish Groups Line Up In Support Of Bidens Muslim Court Pick Assailed By GOP

Fifteen Jewish organizations on Tuesday pledged their “strong support” for President Joe Biden’s historic Muslim court pick Adeel Mangi days after Republican senators subjected him to hostile and Islamophobic questioning in his confirmation hearing.

“Having ethical and unbiased judges is ingrained in our Jewish teachings in which we are taught that ‘judges need to be people of strength through good deeds,’” reads the groups’ letter to all 100 senators, obtained by HuffPost. “It is clear to us that Adeel A. Mangi is a person of strength and good deeds, as evidenced by his career, devotion to his community, and commitment to religious freedom and civil rights.”

The letter hails Mangi’s legal record and highlights numerous amicus briefs he has filed in federal courts, including the Supreme Court, on behalf of religious communities relating to LGBTQ rights, unlawful surveillance of religious communities and the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Mangi has also spoken “movingly” about his faith, the groups wrote, and his pro bono work on behalf of religious organizations. 

“It’s important that people of faith have a voice on many of the critical issues that are before the Supreme Court and the appellate courts,” reads the letter, quoting Mangi. “There’s something beautiful about ... more than 150 different religious groups coming together to present a common position to the Supreme Court of the United States.” 

The letter is signed by the National Council of Jewish Women, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Carolina Jews for Justice, The Shalom Center, and others. The groups collectively represent more than a million people nationwide.

Here’s a copy of their letter:

Mangi, if confirmed, will be the nation’s first-ever Muslim federal appeals court judge, and only the third Muslim federal judge. Biden tapped Mangi for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, based in Philadelphia.

The Jewish groups’ letter comes after Mangi, who is a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, endured a series of offensive and irrelevant questions from Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) yelled at and interrupted Mangi throughout his hearing. They demanded that he share his personal views on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Oct. 7 attack in Israel and the Israeli-Hamas conflict in general. They also repeatedly tried to tie him to pro-Palestinian comments made by people he didn’t know, and to events he didn’t know about.

Mangi repeatedly had to attest that he wasn’t antisemitic or sympathetic to terrorists.

Cruz, for one, specifically pressed Mangi to say whether he sees any justification for the Hamas militants’ terrorist attack in Israel that left some 1,200 Israelis dead.

“I have no patience none for any attempts to justify or defend those events,” Mangi replied.

Democrats on the committee later condemned Republicans for their treatment of Biden’s judicial pick, including chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who banged his gavel several times in response to Cruz repeatedly interrupting Mangi.

On Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country, condemned all three Republican senators for their behavior.

“Singling out a Muslim judicial nominee and forcing him to answer ‘gotcha questions’ about the Middle East simply because of faith or because of his tangential connections to Muslims who comment on the Middle East is Islamophobic and un-American,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s national deputy director. “So is raising the hateful trope that presumptively assumes that Muslims are antisemitic.”

Mangi’s nomination isn’t going anywhere soon. The Senate is about to recess for the holidays and isn’t expected back until Jan. 8. After that, it’s up to Durbin to decide when to schedule a committee vote on Mangi’s nomination.