Dozens of pro bono lawyers back Biden’s beleaguered court pick Adeel Mangi

WASHINGTON — Dozens of pro bono partners, legal advisors and chairs of top law firms and national organizations are backing President Joe Biden’s pick, Adeel Mangi — and warning that senators are harming the legal profession itself with their poor treatment of Mangi in his confirmation process.

“We are deeply concerned about the attacks on Mr. Mangi,” said a letter delivered to Senate party leaders on Friday, signed by 49 pro bono lawyers from across the country. “Our greatest concern, however, is that while these attacks are directed at Mr. Mangi, they have a broad impact: they serve to demonize, vilify and ultimately discourage pro bono services provided by the legal profession.”

Biden last year tapped Mangi, a veteran civil litigator in New Jersey, for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. He checks off all the boxes for a solid judicial candidate. He was unanimously rated as well qualified by the American Bar Association. He has been praised for his legal and pro bono work by groups ranging from the AFL-CIO to the Coalition of the Underrepresented Law Enforcement Associations and more than a dozen Jewish groups.

Mangi also happens to be Muslim and if confirmed, he would be the first Muslim judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the country. His confirmation would also tip the ideological balance of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, giving it an even mix of judges appointed by the Democrats and the Republican Party.

Chalk it up to plain old Islamophobia or the Republican Party’s willingness to do whatever it takes to prevent Democrats from balancing that court, but Mangi has become the target of one of the ugliest smear campaigns against a federal judicial candidate in recent history.

Republican senators and dark money groups have baselessly tried for months to portray Mangi as an anti-Semitic terrorist sympathizer. When these efforts didn’t seem to work — prominent Jewish organizations lined up in Mangi’s defense — the Republican Party shifted to a new line of attack, now baselessly trying to portray Mangi as someone who supports cop killers.

The attacks on Mangi are related to his pro bono work with two groups: the Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers Law School, and a New York City nonprofit, the Alliance of Families for Justice, which offers counseling to relatives of people who have been incarcerated. In both cases, the Republican Party has tried to link Mangi to extreme views of other people associated with those groups but with whom he has no direct ties.

In their Friday letter to Senate leaders, the pro bono lawyers warned of “unintended consequences” of some senators’ attacks on Mangi.

“They serve to discourage law firm attorneys from pursuing pro bono work or volunteer work, which could be viewed as a barrier to future opportunities, including appointment to the federal judiciary,” their letter reads.

“The attacks on Mr. Mangi’s office tell lawyers that they must choose between serving their communities through pro bono work or pursuing judicial appointments, when in fact our judiciary is being made richer by judges with a history of meaningful pro bono services.”

Catherine Weiss, one of the signatories of the letter, told JS that the lawyers sent it because they were concerned that people did not realize the damage certain senators were doing to the pro bono agency’s case.

“Many of Mr. Mangi’s efforts stemmed from commendable pro bono practices, comparable to those in many major law firms,” said Weiss, partner and chairman of the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest at Lowenstein Sandler LLP. “The shaming of Mr. Mangi for these efforts threatens to discourage attorneys in private practice from participating in civil rights cases and other pro bono work that helps thousands of clients each year access justice.”

Here is a copy of the lawyer’s letter:

Lawrence Lustberg, another signatory, told JS that discouraging lawyers from giving back to their communities has the net effect of depriving already disadvantaged people of competent representation.

“These cases often involve the representation of those who are least popular in society, in highly controversial cases,” said Lustberg, director of the John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law at the firm Gibbons PC. on matters like this should not have to face the kind of criticism and vilification that Mr Mangi has faced – for cases that demonstrate his commitment to pro bono work and are far more appropriately seen as a truly selfless honor for our profession. ”

Currently, Mangi’s nomination is hanging by a thread. Democrats have a razor-thin majority in the Senate, and three have already said they will not vote for Mangi. That is enough to undermine his nomination, in the event that the House votes with all senators present. The Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada immediately gave in to the pressure of the Republican Party’s attacks. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), meanwhile, said he won’t support Mangi without at least one Republican backing him as well.

But the White House has not withdrawn Mangi’s nomination, and the Democratic senator who recommended him to the White House in the first place, Cory Booker of New Jersey, vows to keep fighting for him.

“One of the sadder chapters of my time in the Senate,” Booker told JS earlier this month when asked for updates on Mangi’s nomination.

When asked Monday about any plans for a possible confirmation vote for Mangi, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said only: “Unfortunately, there is nothing new to report.”