West Virginia senator Joe Manchin (D) pledged not to vote for any of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees unless they get Republican votes. He is the second democratic senator to rebel against the party and will likely imperil the nomination.
The senator earlier announced that he would not seek reelection and would retire from the Senate.
“Just one Republican. That’s all I’m asking for. Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster,” Manchin said.
“If they can’t get one Republican, I vote for none. I’ve told [Democrats] that. I said, ‘I’m sick and tired of it, I can’t take it anymore.'”
In an interview with CNN, the senator expressed the same sentiment concerning Adeel Mangi, Biden’s nominee for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Mangi would have been the first Muslim-American on a federal appeals court if he could convince the lawmakers.
“I’m going to be very honest with everybody; if my Democratic colleagues and friends can’t get one Republican vote, don’t count on me. You can’t make it bipartisan, don’t count on me,” Manchin quipped.
Aside from Manchin, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) opposed Mangi’s nomination, and Republicans are not inclined to support him.
“Mangi’s affiliation with the Alliance of Families for Justice is deeply concerning,” Cortez Masto wrote in her statement.
“This organization has sponsored a fellowship in the name of Kathy Boudin, a member of the domestic terrorist organization Weather Underground, and advocated for the release of individuals convicted of killing police officers. I cannot support this nominee.”
Mangi is also a member of the advisory board of the Alliance of Families for Justice, a New York-based group that advocates for incarcerated people and their families.
National Review revealed in an article that Mangi is a board member of the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers. The organization has “produced several extremist programs, featured speakers with ties to known terrorist organizations, and sponsored lectures brazenly touting antisemitic themes.”
Mangi also faced criticism from Republican senators regarding his stance on Hamas’s attack on Israel last October.
“The events of October 7 were horrific. A horror.”
“The attacks on civilians were abominable and against everything that I stand for. I have no patience for any attempts to justify or defend those attacks on civilians,” Mangi retorted.
Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (Missouri), and Tom Cotton also questioned his role in Rutgers.
Mangi, a Harvard University and Oxford University alumni, is currently a partner at the New York-based law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.
