Ted Cruz demands Muslim judiciary nominee denounce Hamas and Sept. 11

A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday brought attention to five federal judicial nominees sent to Congress by President Joe Biden. Among them was a Muslim man — and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared to struggle with that.

Adeel Abdullah Mangi would be the first Muslim on the U.S. Court of Appeals. He has a decades-long history of fighting high-profile religious discrimination disputes and is one of the advisory board members of the National LGBT Bar Association.

“I’m a Muslim,” he said. “In my view, the Muslim and LGBT communities are natural allies. .... Many in our community are strong supporters of LGBT rights. For example, the Muslim Bar Association of New York was the only religious bar association to endorse marriage equality legislation in New York all the way back in 2011.”

The questioning began with Cruz bringing up the testimony of Ivy League school leaders who refused to denounce anti-semitism seen on their campuses.

"When I look at your background, I'm troubled by a lot of things, but I'm troubled by the fact that you served as an advisory board member of the Center for Security Race and Rights at Rutgers Law School from 2019 to 2023. And, sadly, I think that the Center embraces the same extremism and myopia that we saw on display from the presidents of Harvard, MIT and Penn," Cruz said.

He went on to read a letter posted by the 2021 director of the Rutgers Center saying that a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza wouldn't end the horrible conditions that people live under. Mangi was asked if he agreed with her.

"Let me say first that the genocide issue that you raised — any calls for genocide of any people are absolutely horrific. Horrific. And there could be nothing more antithetical to anything I stand for," said Mangi.

"With regard to the center, I mentioned earlier, I served on an advisory board. Its function was to meet approximately once a year and focus on what areas of academic research Rutgers Law School might engage in."

Cruz cut in, demanding again to know whether he agreed with the letter — to which Mangi said he'd never even heard of it.

Cruz demanded to know whether Mangi saw Israel as an occupier, which Mangi said goes back to thousands of years of complex history which he's not an expert on. Then Cruz began reading anti-Semitic statements from other people and random quotes calling Israel an occupier and asking of Mangi agreed.

"You're unwilling to agree with it," Cruz said. "There was a reason you were on that board. There was a reason — it's actually quite remarkable that you're willing to disclaim the statement, 'We're in awe of the Palestinian struggle to resist.'"

The quote Cruz was reading was from 2021, two years prior to the Oct. 7 attacks, but he read it within the context of those attacks.

"Senator, I said this earlier, but let me repeat it because I think it's critically important," began Mangi.

"Do you condemn the atrocities of the Hamas terrorists?" Cruz demanded.

"Yes. That was what I was about to address, actually," continued Mangi.

"And is there any justification — any justification for those atrocities?" Cruz asked.

"Senator, I'll repeat myself. The events of Oct. 7 were a horror involving the deaths of innocent civilians," said Mangi.

"I'm going to ask it again," Cruz interrupted. "Is there any justification for those atrocities?"

"That was going to be my next sentence, Senator," said Mangi. "Which is: I have no patience — none — for any attempts to justify or defend those events."

Cruz then held up a blown-up screen capture of an event hosted at the center which featured what he said a "convicted terrorist" and another man who called for "Intifada," which means a civil uprising. Cruz however, used the word "intifada" interchangeably with "jihad," which is a fight with perceived enemies of Islam.

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Cruz demanded to know if the Muslim judicial nominee supported the Sept. 11 attacks in New York.

"Senator, I don't think anyone feels more strongly about what happened on 9/11 than someone who was there," Mangi replied. "Who saw with their own eyes smoke billowing from the towers."

"But you won't condemn this," said Cruz.

"Let him complete his answer, would you?" interjected Judiciary Chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

That's when Cruz lost it, claiming that the nominee was "filibustering." Then he lashed out at Durbin.

"When a question is going badly for a Democrat witness you try and step in and save the witness." He went on to claim that Mangi was "giving a speech" about something else because "he doesn't want to answer" the question.

Durbin called out Cruz for trying to "bully the witness" and "bully members of the committee."

It didn't end with Cruz, however. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) stepped in, reading off a number of anti-semetic statements not attributed to Mangi, and demanded that he denounce them publicly.

Joe Biden's administration has confirmed 162 judges thus far.

You can watch Mangi's introduction below or at this link. The battle with the Republicans begins about two hours into nearly three hours of video.