White House Scrambles To Save Anti-Israel Biden Judicial Nominee

Adeel Mangi also serves on the board of a group founded by cop-killing domestic terrorist

The White House is in overdrive to save a Biden judicial nominee who has served on the boards of an anti-Israel think tank and a group that wants to free convicted cop-killers from prison.

White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and two other Biden administration officials are lobbying senators this week to confirm Adeel Mangi to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Politico reported Wednesday. White House counsel Ed Siskel and White House director of legislative affairs Shuwanza Goff are also working to save Mangi’s nomination, which is in limbo over his board positions with several controversial left-wing groups.

Mangi served on the advisory board of the Rutgers Law School Center for Security, Race, and Rights, which has blamed Israel for last year’s Hamas attack. The think tank hosted terrorism financier Sami al-Arian at a 20th anniversary event for the 9/11 attacks.

Mangi also serves on the advisory board of the Alliance of Families for Justice, a nonprofit that has called for the parole of six black nationalists serving prison time for the murder of police officers, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The group referred to the killers—including left-wing cause célèbre Mumia Abu-Jamal—as “freedom fighters” unjustly targeted by the FBI. Kathy Boudin, a member of the terrorist group Weather Underground, was a founding board member of the Alliance of Families for Justice. Boudin, the mother of former San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin (D.), was convicted of murdering two police officers during an armored truck robbery in 1981. Mangi, who works in private practice, was a director of the Legal Aid Society, which has called to defund police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a Free Beacon report.

The White House has adamantly defended Mangi and accused Republicans of “Islamophobia” for opposing a nominee who would be the first Muslim to serve on the federal appeals court. White House officials have said President Joe Biden remains “extremely proud” to have nominated Mangi.

The White House lobbying campaign may run into headwinds, as purple-state Democrats such as Sens. Bob Casey (Pa.), Jon Tester (Mont.), and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) face growing calls to vote against Mangi. The conservative Judicial Crisis Network has launched an ad campaign calling on the three incumbents—all up for reelection this year—to vote against Mangi.

The vote is especially fraught for Casey, who is locked in a close fight with presumptive Republican nominee Dave McCormick. For one, Mangi if confirmed will have jurisdiction over federal cases in Pennsylvania, making his record all the more important to Keystone State voters. And in 2014, Casey voted against Obama Justice Department nominee Debo Adegbile because of Adegbile’s legal work for Abu Jamal. McCormick has called on Casey to vote against Mangi.

Five police unions representing more than 280,000 officers called on senators to vote against Mangi over his position with the Alliance of Families for Justice. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) echoed the unions’ concerns in a Senate floor speech on Tuesday.

“It turns out [Mangi] also has a history of support for anti-police activism,” McConnell said. “In fact, he serves on the advisory board of a group of apologists for convicted cop-killers, the so-called Alliance of Families for Justice.”

The White House has rallied outside groups to endorse Mangi. The AFL-CIO, the Coalition of the Underrepresented Law Enforcement Associations, and the left-wing Alliance for Justice have submitted letters to senators this week urging them to vote for Mangi.