by Jorge Gomez • 5 min read
President Biden recently announced his first found of judicial picks for 2024, which includes six new nominees. The President also announced a long list of nominees he’s resending to the U.S. Senate. Every January, the President typically resends nominations that expired at the end of the previous year. This renominations list includes three judicial picks with controversial and alarming records.
The President renominated Adeel Abdullah Mangi for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mangi has a concerning affiliation with the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights—a radical organization that promotes anti-Semitism and praises terrorist groups. This week, the Judiciary Committee advanced Mangi’s nomination on a party-line vote. He now heads to the floor of the Senate for a confirmation vote.
In a Senate floor speech, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the nomination “head spinning” at a time of growing anti-Semitism in America and across the world. Many members of the Judiciary Committee—including Sens. Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and John Kennedy—have all sounded the alarm about this nominee.
At his confirmation hearing in December, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said Mangi’s affiliation with extremist groups shows “Joe Biden’s presidency is riddled with radical and unqualified judicial nominees.”
I asked President Biden’s judicial nominee today, Adeel Mangi, whether Jews are “colonial settlers” in Israel. He refused to answer the question.
It’s unacceptable this is the type of judge the Biden administration nominates. pic.twitter.com/N3hkVDuEnE
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) December 13, 2023
Nicole Berner—nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit—is another nominee with big red flags. She worked as an attorney at Planned Parenthood and submitted multiple friend-of-the-court briefs opposing religious liberty.
Berner praised the Supreme Court’s opinion in Bostock v. Clayton (2020), which has been problematic for religious freedom. As First Liberty experts explain, that ruling has been used by the Biden administration to target religious groups. The opinion took a liberal reading of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by expanding the definition of “sex” discrimination. That interpretation opened the floodgates for lawsuits and attacks against religious hospitals and healthcare organizations. Berner called Bostock a “historic victory” and “another bend in the arc of the moral universe toward justice.”
The President also renominated Mustafa Taher Kasubhai for a federal district court in Oregon. His record is filled with views and legal theories far outside the mainstream. It even shows how radical gender ideology seeped into his courtroom rules as a magistrate judge. He advocates using “preferred pronouns” in court proceedings, official opinions and emails.
Sen. Cruz pressed Kasubhai on this issue, calling the nominee’s views on human sexuality radical at his confirmation hearing last fall. “Many Biden nominees have been extreme, but your record is so far out of the mainstream that you have attracted virtually all of the questions,” Cruz said.
Mustafa Taher Kasubhai, Biden’s nominee to be the District Judge for Oregon, has a long record of radical and unhinged legal theories.
In the Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal, he penned radical screeds about sexuality and gender politics. His views are so appalling, Kasubhai isn’t… pic.twitter.com/YHrlnML0J3
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 5, 2023
Utah Sen. Mike Lee also questioned Kasubhai on his views on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
As First Liberty explains, the DEI agenda is often very harmful to people of faith in the workplace. It promises to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in all spaces. But it actually results in religious Americans being “canceled” at work. It’s the faithful who shoulder the consequences when corporations discriminate against them.
Kasubhai expressed support for DEI in a presentation to the Oregon State Bar, saying that it “is the heart and soul of the court system.”
President Biden did not renominate Charnelle Bjelkengren for a district court seat in Washington. At her confirmation hearing, she failed to answer basic constitutional questions about what Article II and Article V say. On January 10, Bjelkengren withdrew her nomination, saying the process was “taxing on both a personal and professional level” and that the uncertainty of her confirmation led to her decision.
Federal judges make critical legal decisions about your religious freedom. First Liberty will continue to monitor judicial nominees and provide you with the facts if any of them have a radical or unacceptable record.
RELATED NEWS:
Heritage Foundation: Judicial Appointment Tracker
Brookings Institution: Biden’s effort to reshape the federal judiciary: Four things to watch in 2024
The Washington Times: Adeel Mangi: Hamas’ favorite judicial nominee must never serve on the federal bench
Bloomberg Law: Progressives Urge Faster Pace on Diverse Judicial Confirmations
Townhall: Joe Biden Just Suffered Two Judicial Losses
Reuters: Three Biden Trial Court Picks Withdraw from Consideration
Reuters: Biden names first 6 new judicial nominees of 2024
NBC: Biden falls behind Trump’s pace on confirming judges as he enters a fourth year in office
Reuters: Law clerk nominated by Biden to judgeship withdraws from consideration
Reuters: US Senate confirms Texas’ Kazen as 1st new federal judge of 2024
Law.com: These Hopefuls Are a Step Closer to Becoming a Judge; Others Weren’t So Lucky
AZ Central: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema votes against Biden judicial nominee for 1st time
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