First Muslim American appellate court nominee faces uphill battle to salvage nomination

Gavels and law books are shown, July 14, 2010 in San Francisco, Calif. (AP)
Gavels and law books are shown, July 14, 2010 in San Francisco, Calif. (AP)
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Updated 11 April 2024
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First Muslim American appellate court nominee faces uphill battle to salvage nomination

Gavels and law books are shown, July 14, 2010 in San Francisco, Calif. (AP)
  • Adeel Mangi forcefully denied that he has an anti-police bias in the letter he wrote Booker, saying “any suggestion that I have sympathy for attacks on law enforcement is shocking and false”

WASHINGTON: The nominee who could become the first Muslim American to serve as a federal appellate court judge is fighting back against characterizations of his work by law enforcement groups that are jeopardizing his nomination. The White House and Senate are doubling down on their efforts to win over lawmakers on the fence, but it may be too late.
Adeel Mangi received law degrees from Oxford and Harvard. He works in a prestigious law firm and has secured significant legal victories. But his limited volunteer work with two outside groups has imperiled his nomination.
Some law enforcement groups have told lawmakers that Mangi’s work as an advisory board member for the Alliance of Families for Justice is disqualifying. That’s peeling off support — not only from key Democrats but from some Republicans who have been at times willing to support President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
Mangi has taken the unusual step of writing his home state senator to explain his work with the alliance. To counter the police groups in opposition, he and the White House are emphasizing that other law enforcement groups back him. The intensity of the fight underscores the high stakes as Biden and Democrats strive to shape the makeup of the federal judiciary while they have control of the White House and Senate.
The Alliance of Families for Justice provides legal assistance for people in prison and resources for their families, including counseling. Law enforcement groups have highlighted that Kathy Boudin served as a board member for the group after serving more than two decades behind bars for her role in a fatal 1981 armored truck robbery.
The robbery resulted in the killing of a security guard and two police officers. During her time in prison, Boudin expressed remorse and worked to help inmates with AIDS. She also developed a program on parenting behind bars. She continued efforts to help the incarcerated and their families after her parole. Law enforcement groups in New York were incensed at her release and the state’s governor at the time voiced his opposition.
The National Association of Police Organizations said Mangi’s work with the group “shows an anti-victim and anti-police bias that would certainly cloud his decision-making as a judge.” The National Sheriffs’ Association also voiced “united opposition” to his nomination.
Three Democrats have come out against Mangi’s confirmation: Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, both of Nevada. The Nevada senators specifically cited law enforcement opposition in their reasoning. Their stance means Mangi will almost certainly need the support of some Republicans to be confirmed, and there are scant signs of such support.
Democrats aren’t giving up. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said “there are conversations going on on both sides of the aisle” about the nomination.
Mangi forcefully denied that he has an anti-police bias in the letter he wrote Booker, saying “any suggestion that I have sympathy for attacks on law enforcement is shocking and false.” He said the advisory board he was invited to serve on at the Alliance of Families for Justice has never even met.
He was invited to serve on that board based on his leading a pro bono lawsuit related to the death of a mentally ill, black inmate at Sullivan Correctional Facility in New York. That lawsuit led to a historic settlement that included a requirement for cameras and microphones throughout the prison, which he said increased safety for corrections officers. He said he did not litigate any more cases based on referrals from the group.
He also made clear the advocacy group has an entirely separate board of directors responsible for oversight and governance. He never had any role with the governing board. As to Boudin, he does not recall meeting her, and to the extent there was a fellowship in her name, he was not involved.
Mangi noted that some law enforcement groups are backing him, including the Hispanic American Law Enforcement Association and the Muslim American Law Enforcement Association. The International Law Enforcement Officers Association urged the Senate to swiftly confirm Mangi, saying “his record clearly demonstrates his respect for the rule of law and the vital role of law enforcement in promoting public safety.”
In recent days, senior White House officials, including chief of staff Jeff Zients, have sought to rescue Mangi’s nomination. They’ve called senators to stress his legal credentials and to decry what the administration characterizes as smears.
“Some Senate Republicans and their extreme allies are relentlessly smearing Adeel Mangi with baseless accusations that he is anti-police,” Zients said. “That could not be further from the truth and the close to a dozen law enforcement organizations that have endorsed him agree. The Senate must confirm Mr. Mangi without further delay.”
Mangi’s nomination has also generated criticism from some Jewish groups, who are highlighting his past affiliation with the Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers University. The center engages in research and education on policies that adversely impact America’s Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities.
Mangi served on an advisory board for about four years until mid-2023. He said his work was limited to participating in four meetings over four years that were focused on academic research.
Republicans have looked to associate him with remarks from others at the center that they view as antisemitic. He was asked about numerous speakers the center has hosted and whether he agreed with their statements.
Mangi said he should not be held accountable for statements made by others at events he was unaware of until senators brought it up at his confirmation hearing.
The Anti-Defamation League has defended Mangi, saying he was subjected to aggressive questioning unrelated to his professional expertise. The ADL is considered a leader in efforts to fight antisemitism.
“Just as associating Jewish American with certain views or beliefs regarding Israeli government actions would be deemed antisemitic, berating the first American Muslim federal appellate judicial nominee with endless questions that appear to have been motivated by bias toward his religion is profoundly wrong,” the ADL said in a statement.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Mangi’s nomination in January on a party-line vote of 11-10. But he has clearly lost ground since then. Supporters say he has been treated unfairly because of his faith.
“Based on his record, you would think Mr. Mangi would be quickly confirmed, but I left off one fact on his resume. He is a Muslim American,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday. “The treatment of this nominee before the Senate Judiciary Committee has reached a new low in many ways.”
Republican leader Mitch McConnell has been dogged in his opposition to Mangi, and has repeatedly spoken in opposition to him on the Senate floor. On Tuesday, he noted Mangi’s “almost unprecedented step” of writing to Booker to “disclaim any real knowledge of an organization on whose advisory board he sits.”
“There are only two explanations: either Mr. Mangi is so careless that he repeatedly neglected to conduct the simplest due diligence before joining advisory boards of radical groups, or he joined these groups intentionally.
“Either one makes him unfit for this lifetime appointment,” McConnell said.
 

 


First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in Tel Aviv

First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in Tel Aviv
Updated 31 sec ago
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First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in Tel Aviv

First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in Tel Aviv
The plane that arrived in Tel Aviv had passengers evacuated from Amsterdam

TEL AVIV: The first flight carrying Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam after violent clashes following a football match there landed on Friday at Ben Gurion International Airport, the Israel Airports Authority said.
“The plane that arrived in Tel Aviv now has passengers evacuated from Amsterdam,” Liza Dvir, spokeswoman for the airport authority told AFP.

India’s Modi rejects calls to restore Kashmir’s partial autonomy

India’s Modi rejects calls to restore Kashmir’s partial autonomy
Updated 12 min 48 sec ago
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India’s Modi rejects calls to restore Kashmir’s partial autonomy

India’s Modi rejects calls to restore Kashmir’s partial autonomy
  • Modi revoked partial autonomy in 2019 and split the state into the two federally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh 
  • Jammu and Kashmir held its first local election in a decade this year, newly-elected lawmakers passed resolution this week seeking restoration

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed his government’s contentious 2019 decision to revoke the partial autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, days after the territory’s newly elected lawmakers sought its restoration.
“Only the constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar will operate in Kashmir... No power in the world can restore Article 370 (partial autonomy) in Kashmir,” Modi said, referring to one of the founding fathers of the Indian constitution.
Modi was speaking at a state election rally in the western state of Maharashtra, where Ambedkar was from.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government revoked partial autonomy in 2019 and split the state into the two federally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh — a move that was opposed by many political groups in the Himalayan region.
Jammu and Kashmir held its first local election in a decade in September and October and the newly-elected lawmakers passed a resolution this week seeking the restoration.
Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference party had promised in its election manifesto that it would restore the partial autonomy, although the power to do so lies with Modi’s federal government.
Jammu and Kashmir’s new lawmakers can legislate on local issues like other Indian states, except matters regarding public order and policing. They will also need the approval of the federally-appointed administrator on all policy decisions that have financial implications.
Under the system of partial autonomy, Kashmir had its own constitution and the freedom to make laws on all issues except foreign affairs, defense and communications.
The troubled region, where separatist militants have fought security forces since 1989, is India’s only Muslim-majority territory.
It has been at the center of a territorial dispute with Pakistan since the neighbors gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by both India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region.


Kyiv says Russia has returned bodies of 563 soldiers

Kyiv says Russia has returned bodies of 563 soldiers
Updated 23 min 52 sec ago
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Kyiv says Russia has returned bodies of 563 soldiers

Kyiv says Russia has returned bodies of 563 soldiers
  • The exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed military personnel remains one of the few areas of cooperation
  • The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen

KYIV: Ukraine said on Friday it had received the bodies of 563 soldiers from Russian authorities, mainly troops that had died in combat in the eastern Donetsk region.
The exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed military personnel remains one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded in 2022.
“The bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on social media.
The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen since the beginning of the war.
The statement said that 320 of the remains were returned from the Donetsk region and that 89 of the soldiers had been killed near Bakhmut, a town captured by Russia in May last year after a costly battle.
Another 154 of the bodies were returned from morgues inside Russia, the statement added.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine publicly disclose how many military personnel have been killed fighting.


Russia sentences soldiers who massacred Ukraine family to life in prison

Russia sentences soldiers who massacred Ukraine family to life in prison
Updated 33 min 26 sec ago
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Russia sentences soldiers who massacred Ukraine family to life in prison

Russia sentences soldiers who massacred Ukraine family to life in prison
  • The court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the two men to life in prison for mass murder “motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred“
  • The incident triggered uproar in Ukraine

MOSCOW: A Russian court sentenced two soldiers to life in prison for the massacre of a family of nine people in their home in occupied Ukraine, state media reported on Friday.
Russian prosecutors said in October 2023, the two Russian soldiers, Anton Sopov and Stanislav Rau, entered the home of the Kapkanets family in the city of Volnovakha with guns equipped with silencers.
They then shot all nine family members who lived there, including two children aged five and nine.
The southern district military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the two men to life in prison for mass murder “motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred,” the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement source.
The incident triggered uproar in Ukraine.
Kyiv alleged at the time that the Russian soldiers had murdered the family in their sleep after they refused to move out of their home to allow Russian soldiers to live there.
“The occupiers killed the Kapkanets family, who were celebrating a birthday and refused to give up their home,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said a day after the murder.
Russian forces seized the city of Volnovakha in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region at the start of their full-scale military offensive.
It was virtually destroyed by Russian artillery strikes.
Russian soldiers have been accused of multiple instances of killing civilians in Ukrainian towns and cities they have occupied since February 2022.
Moscow has always denied targeting civilians and tried to claim reports of atrocities at places like Bucha were fake, despite widespread evidence from multiple independent sources.
The arrest and sentencing in this case is a rare example of Russia admitting to a crime committed by its troops in Ukraine.
State media did not say what prosecutors determined the reason for the attack was.
TASS suggested it could have been a “domestic dispute,” while both the independent Radio Free Europe and Kommersant business outlets said it could have been linked to a dispute over obtaining vodka.
The trial was held in secret.
The independent Radio Free Europe outlet reported the Rau, 28, and Sopov, 21 were mercenaries for the Wagner paramilitary before joining Russia’s official army.
They had both received state awards a few months before the mass murder, it said.


Saudi influencer shines spotlight on resilience, hard work of Filipino expats

Saudi influencer shines spotlight on resilience, hard work of Filipino expats
Updated 08 November 2024
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Saudi influencer shines spotlight on resilience, hard work of Filipino expats

Saudi influencer shines spotlight on resilience, hard work of Filipino expats
  • Riyadh-based health worker Ahmed Alruwaili has 1.7 million followers on Facebook
  • He shot to social media fame thanking Filipino frontliners during COVID-19 pandemic

MANILA: Dressed in a white thobe, a traditional headdress, and a blue jersey of the Philippine national basketball team, Saudi influencer Ahmed Alruwaili appears in a viral video, distributing small gifts and snacks to Filipinos in Riyadh as a way to thank them for their hard work.

In another clip, he visits an elementary school for Filipino children, sharing jokes and laughter with them. In yet another, he hands out portable electric fans to Filipino expats braving the scorching heat of the Saudi capital.

These videos are just a few among the hundreds of Alruwaili posts, in which he uses his social media platform to celebrate over 1 million Filipino expats living and working in Saudi Arabia. Through his content, he highlights their resilience, traditions, and sense of humor, reaching 1.7 million Facebook followers.

It all began about six years ago when he joined a group of Filipino baristas playing street basketball in the mornings. Initially reluctant, they soon welcomed him into their circle. After each game, they would share their breakfasts with him before heading off to work.

“They used to bring pancit in the morning, at 5 a.m. Pancit and pan de sal, Alicafe,” Alruwaili recalled, referring to traditional Filipino noodles, bread rolls, and the popular instant coffee.

“I know it’s really weird, but that’s how it all started. It’s all with basketball. And till today, I still play with the same people. I did not change, I’m still visiting them. I’m the one now to bring them the food.”

Over time, he developed a basic understanding of Filipino culture and Tagalog — a language he had slowly become familiar with also through his work in a healthcare facility, where he had met many Filipino colleagues.

During basketball games, his friends would often record videos of him, which quickly garnered considerable attention and views. Encouraged by this, Alruwaili began sharing content regularly. While his posts were initially comedic, everything changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he witnessed the dedication and sacrifice of Filipino nurses working on the frontlines of the healthcare crisis.

Feeling the need to express recognition and gratitude, Alruwaili shifted the focus of his content. This became a turning point — one that would shape the direction of his online presence and influence in the years to come.

“It was purely comedy until the COVID time,” he said. “Working in a healthcare facility, I see the hard-working OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) here in Saudi. So, I thought I’d use it to give appreciation. Once I did that … it became different. All the things happened after that. This is how we started.”

In a video posted in March 2020, Alruwaili is seen buying flowers and food and distributing them to Filipino nurses at various locations in Riyadh.

“The reason why I made this is just to remind you about all the hard work that the nurses are doing all over the world, especially the OFW nurses against this coronavirus,” he says in the clip.

“We all need to pray and appreciate all the nurses for their hard work. The nurses now are the true heroes.”

The video received 3.5 million views. Another video, in which Alruwaili brings pillows, blankets, and food to pandemic-stranded Filipino workers waiting for their flights, has now reached 6 million views — and continues to grow.

Known as The Saudipinoy after the name of his Facebook account — with the word “Pinoy” meaning “Filipino” in Tagalog — the Saudi influencer has already visited the Philippines eight times since he started vlogging.

One of his most popular clips — which has 8 million views — was filmed on Siargao Island. It shows him conducting a social experiment, pretending that his motorcycle has run out of gas. The video captures how Filipinos would immediately offer help to a stranger in need.

Despite his social media fame, Alruwaili’s life remains centered around his full-time job in healthcare. Working as a medical professional, he devotes just one day a week to creating content.

“One day, I am just asleep … then the other day I will do the vlog, then I will prepare to go back to work. So, my life is really busy, I am really working hard to keep up with the vlog,” he said.

“(But) I am extremely happy with the impact (of what) I am doing.”

His social media work is appreciated not only by Filipinos, many of whom recognize him on the streets of Riyadh and approach him to thank him and hug him, but also by fellow Saudis.

“I want Saudis to notice the hard work of OFWs, and I want OFWs to know that Saudi people are nice,” he said.

“I am proud to be Saudi and representing Saudis. And, thank God, even big people here in Saudi … they said: ‘Keep going, you are representing the Saudi people and we are proud of you.’”