Durbin Defends Adeel Mangi Amid Baseless, Islamophobic Attacks by Senate Republicans

Floor Speech

“Mr. Mangi is a highly qualified nominee with incredible credentials and more than two decades of litigation experience. He would be the first Muslim-American to ever serve on a federal appellate court. Nevertheless, he has gone through scrutiny unlike anything I have ever seen … Unfortunately, many of the questions that have been raised about Mr. Mangi and his background have created suspicions in people’s minds that his religion is the reason for the questioning. Treatment of this highly qualified nominee has sometimes reached an all-time low.

At his hearing in committee, many Republicans subjected Mr. Mangi to combative lines of questioning about the Israel-Hamas war. This is a man who is seeking to serve on the federal bench on an appellate court. The questions that were asked of him were more appropriately asked of the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense.

At one point, a Republican Senator asked this Muslim-American [if he celebrates 9/11]. Think about that for a second. Because he is Muslim, the Senator thought it was appropriate to ask him if it was appropriate to celebrate 9/11 in his home. He of course said ‘no.’ He was a resident of New York and thought it was a tragedy that occurred to our nation, and he had friends and family who were affected by that tragedy.

Critics have falsely claimed that because of his minimal involvement with this organization, he has somehow associated himself with violent criminals and supports ‘cop-killers.’ … Nothing could be further from the truth. As a longtime corporate lawyer, Mr. Mangi has never said or written anything – anything – that suggests he supports individuals who have murdered members of law enforcement. He has never – never – represented or otherwise provided legal counsel to anyone accused of killing a police officer.

But during the Trump Administration, Republicans voted unanimously to confirm two judges who had personally represented individuals who had killed police officers. The treatment of Mr. Mangi by Republicans puts their hypocrisy on full display. There cannot be one standard for Republican appointees and another for Democratic appointees.

Mr. Mangi is right. He should be evaluated based on his record—not on dishonest, bad-faith insinuations. I urge my colleagues to dismiss the smear campaign against Mr. Mangi and support his nomination."

Source