‘Nothing here but hot air’: Former colleague on Adeel Mangi smear campaign

Adeel Mangi, an accomplished attorney nominated by President Biden to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, is poised to make history as the first Muslim judge to serve on a federal appeals court. Highly regarded by his peers, Mangi received a "highly qualified" rating from the American Bar Association. But his nomination is now in peril due to a coordinated effort by Republican senators to smear him with baseless accusations of terrorism and antisemitism. His experience is not unlike Thurgood Marshall’s, the first Black Supreme Court Justice who also faced racist scrutiny, notes Gregory Diskant, who worked alongside both men. “My hope is one day members of the U.S. Senate will look back on their vote for the first Muslim-American to the Court of Appeals with the same pride that the Senate looked back on the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall,” Diskant, a colleague of Mangi’s and former law clerk to Marshall, tells host Ali Velshi.March 30, 2024