McConnell Remarks On Liberal Campaign To Circumvent Judiciary Committee On Mangi Nomination
‘[N]ominees have to disclose in their questionnaires whether or not they’ve made any promises during their confirmation process. Committee Republicans also ask written questions about meetings and coordination with left-wing dark money. But what Mr. Mangi has found is that if he makes the sales pitch after the Committee process is over - as he did to certain law enforcement groups and perhaps to others - nothing needs to be disclosed.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding judicial nominations:
“I’ve spoken many times about Adeel Mangi, President Biden’s nominee for the Third Circuit. I’ve covered his shocking and deep association with virulent anti-Semites – and how he misled the Senate about them.
“I’ve also covered his association with anti-police radicals. Just last week, it was revealed that Mr. Mangi had introduced one of his anti-cop friends to the head of the Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights so they could ‘collaborate’ on a project.
“Democrats can’t rebut these disqualifying associations because they’re facts. So instead, they’ve mounted an all-out campaign to gin up left-wing support for Mr. Mangi and force our Democratic colleagues to walk the plank on his nomination.
“And in so doing, they’ve given the Senate reason to move from questioning Mr. Mangi’s judgment to questioning his ethics.
“After the biggest police unions came out in opposition to his nomination, Mr. Mangi complained in an extraordinary letter to one of my colleagues that the groups opposing him, ‘never spoke to’ him about his ‘position’ or ‘views.’
“Really? What would these outside parties have learned about his views had they asked?
“Well, we don’t actually have to guess. For the past few months, Democrats have paraded Mr. Mangi in front of liberal interest groups in order to secure their endorsements.
“For example, a group of left-leaning law-enforcement organizations met with Mr. Mangi and then praised his commitment to ‘help ensure equity’ in law enforcement. Equity in law enforcement? What on Earth does that even mean? Are those his views?
“These are questions our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee might have liked to ask Mr. Mangi. But unfortunately, these meetings took place after his hearing.
“More recently, 125 progressive organizations sent a letter supporting Mr. Mangi. How many of these left-wing organizations has Mr. Mangi met with? Did he meet with the AFL-CIO? What ‘views’ did he discuss with them? We’ll never know.
“You see, Mr. President, nominees have to disclose in their questionnaires whether or not they’ve made any promises during their confirmation process. Committee Republicans also ask written questions about meetings and coordination with left-wing dark money.
“But what Mr. Mangi has found is that if he makes the sales pitch after the Committee process is over – as he did to certain law enforcement groups and perhaps to others – nothing needs to be disclosed.
“This is particularly troubling given that these small law enforcement groups seem to be almost all based in very Democratic New Jersey counties like Middlesex and Hudson.
“Hudson County, of course, is home to one of the last old-style Democratic political machines.
“Are the ward bosses taking care of Mr. Mangi? What do they expect in return?
“Compare this behavior to Judge Quraishi, the nation’s first Muslim district judge, whom I supported and have mentioned before. Judge Quraishi recently made headlines by striking down New Jersey’s unique – and uniquely corrupt – primary balloting system.
“In other words, he drained the lifeblood of the same Hudson County Democratic machine while it was calling in favors for Mr. Mangi.
“As I’ve said there is a better way in New Jersey, if only the Biden Administration would care to look.
“It’s the role of the Senate to provide advice and consent. We ask nominees questions and evaluate their answers. We judge nominees on that public record.
“Mr. Mangi’s closed-door meetings with interest groups short-circuit that process and call into question what fairness we might expect from him.
“It’s yet another reason the Senate cannot confirm Mr. Mangi.”
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Related Issues: Judicial Nominations
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