Achi news desk-
- Mangi’s chances of winning confirmation in the US Senate are diminishing.
- Senator Jacky Rosen cites opposition from law enforcement groups.
- Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, Joe Manchin also plan to vote no.
WASHINGTON: The chances of Adeel Mangi, a respected Pakistani-American judge nominated by President Biden for the federal appeals court, have dwindled after Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada became the latest Democrat to publicly announce that he would voting against it.
Rosen announced her opposition to Biden’s newest nominee to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia late Wednesday, after two other Democrats said they would join Senate Republicans in voting against his confirmation.
Her announcement could be enough to sink Mangi’s nomination in the closely divided Senedd. Democrats have a 51-49 majority in the chamber, and without a Republican defect or absence, Mangi does not appear to have the votes to be confirmed.
“Given the concerns I have heard from law enforcement in Nevada, I do not intend to vote to confirm this nominee,” Rosen said in a statement.
Her announcement followed that of fellow Nevada Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who last week cited Mangi’s affiliation with a criminal justice reform group that advocates on behalf of families affected by mass incarceration.
Several law enforcement groups, including the National Sheriffs Association and the National Association of Police Organizations, have announced their opposition to Mangi and criticized his affiliation with the Families for Justice Alliance.
Republicans and law enforcement groups who oppose Mangi have portrayed him as an association that advocates “freeing cop killers from prison,” as the head of the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association put it in a letter on February 14.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who sometimes votes with Republicans on judicial nominees, has said he would also vote no, citing a policy he has adopted aimed at fostering bipartisanship by insisting that judicial nominees win at least one Republican over to secure his vote. .
The White House contends that Mangi, a New Jersey resident and partner at the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, has received Islamophobic tests from Republican opponents and pointed to several other law enforcement endorsements of Mangi.
Those included several new endorsements announced Wednesday by groups including the National Institute of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the International Association of Law Enforcement Officers.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said in a statement issued Wednesday before Rosen’s announcement that he urged the Senate to confirm Mangi without further delay, saying the accusations that he was anti-police “couldn’t be further from the truth “.
During a December hearing on his nomination, members of the Republican Judiciary Committee blasted Mangi for his views on the Israel-Hamas war and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Later, the conservative advocacy group the Judicial Crisis Network began running ads calling him “antisemitic” with the goal of convincing some Democratic senators to vote no.
If confirmed, Mangi would restore a 7-7 split on the 3rd Circuit among executive judges appointed by Democratic or Republican presidents.
