A New York Police Department group is “strenuously” objecting to one of President Biden’s judicial nominees for his alleged connection to organizations that “glamorize” individuals that “distort” facts about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressing concerns about Biden’s nomination of Adeel Abdullah Mangi to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
“While Mr. Mangi does not have any prior judicial experience that would recommend him to an appellate court position, he does have a long resume working with organizations that, among other things, glamorize individuals convicted of brutally murdering police officers and distort the truth about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” the association wrote.
“Over the years, Mr. Mangi has worked for, with, and contributed to groups that sought to ‘defund the police,’ and have celebrated individuals responsible for brutally murdering police officers,” the group wrote.
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“While this should be sufficient to disqualify Mr. Mangi from serving on a federal court one step below the U.S. Supreme Court, the SBA takes particular exception to his ostensible support for recharacterizing 9/11 as something other than the deadliest foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil in our nation’s history,” they continued.
The group noted that while Mangi was on its board, the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights held an event on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and featured speakers “with ties to terrorist organizations and which sought to blame the U.S. for the attacks.”
On Sept. 11, 2021, the center sponsored Whose Narrative? 20 Years since September 11, 2001, billed as an event to challenge the “exceptionalization” of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
“Confirming Adeel Mangi gives credence to these false, irresponsible, and dangerous conspiracy theories and amounts to an endorsement of them,” the sergeants wrote.
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“SBA members were at the World Trade Center on 9/11. We know what happened. We know that terrorists were responsible, not the United States government. We feel the losses every day. And we continue to watch too many of this nation’s first responders succumb to the long-term health effects of 9/11,” they wrote.
The group added that “the criminal justice system functions best when all parties — law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are rational actors who base their decisions on objective facts, follow the rule of law, and are unbiased against any party.”
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“At a time when communities around our nation are struggling to recover from a declining respect for the rule of law that has fueled rising crime and lawlessness in cities across America, it sends the wrong message to appoint someone like Mr. Mangi, who has fed lies and distortions that encourage such despicable and irresponsible behavior,” they wrote.
Mangi advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on an 11-10 party-line vote. His nomination has yet to be scheduled for a full Senate vote.
Mangi, a New Jersey resident and partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, has been praised by Democrats for possibly being the nation’s first Muslim American federal appellate judge.
“Mangi is a standout figure in New Jersey’s legal landscape. It speaks volumes that his exceptional legal abilities are only exceeded by his character and unwavering commitment to fairness in the administration of justice,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in a statement.
By contrast, the Coalition of the Underrepresented Law Enforcement Associations, which includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Muslim American Law Enforcement Association and the New Jersey LGBTQ Law Enforcement Liason, sent a letter to the Senate in support of Mangi’s nomination, saying “[h]is record, both in his personal and professional capacities, demonstrates his respect for the rule of law and the role of law enforcement in promoting public safety.”
“As law enforcement professionals, it is our collective belief that Mr. Mangi will help ensure equity in the administration of justice in all communities,” the coalition wrote.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates previously told Fox News Digital “President Biden is deeply proud” to have nominated Mangi, calling him “an indisputably qualified and experienced attorney who has lived the American dream and is devoted to our Constitution and the rule of law.”
McConnell, in a post on X Tuesday, said, “Law enforcement and Jewish groups nationwide are sounding the alarm on @POTUS’ attempt to give life tenure on the federal bench to a nominee with ties to terrorist sympathizers and cop-killers. The Senate must reject Adeel Mangi’s nomination.”
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