Sparkle Sooknanan – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Department of Justice attorney Sparkle Sooknanan is the White House’s second nominee to replace Judge Florence Pan on the D.C. District Court.

Background

A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Sooknanan moved to New York City at age 16 to attend St. Francis College, graduating summa cum laude in 2002. Sooknanan subsequently got an M.B.A. with Distinction from Hofstra College in 2003 and then started work at HIP Health Plan. Sooknanan continued working there while studying in the evenings at Brooklyn Law School, getting a J.D. summa cum laude in 2010.

After graduating, Sooknanan clerked for Judge Eric Vitaliano on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sooknanan then joined Jones Day, becoming a Partner in 2020. Sookanan subsequently left Jones Day and joined the U.S. Department of Justice, where she currently serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division.

History of the Seat

Sooknanan was nominated, based on the recommendation of Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, to replace Judge Florence Pan, who was elevated to the D.C. Circuit on September 28, 2022. President Biden had previously nominated D.C. Superior Judge Todd Edelman to replace Pan, but despite being approved by the Judiciary Committee multiple times, Edelman never received a floor vote and his nomination was not resubmitted to the Senate in 2024.

Legal Experience

Sooknanan started her career in practice with a brief stint at the Department of Justice between her lower court clerkships and her clerkship with Sotomayor. During this time, Sooknanan had the opportunity to argue before the Ninth Circuit on a Federal Tort Claims Act case. See Dichter-Mad Family Partners, LLP v. United States, 709 F.3d 749 (9th Cir. 2013).

Between 2014 and 2020, Sooknanan practiced at the firm Jones Day. At Jones Day, Sooknanan was part of the legal team representing Everytown for Gun Safety as amici in a suit challenging Colorado’s background check laws. See Colorado Outfitters Ass’n v. Hickenlooper, 823 F.3d 537 (10th Cir. 2016). Sooknanan also represented defendants challenging their convictions relating to the illegal smuggling of drugs (now Judge Trevor McFadden was one of the attorneys representing the government on the suit). See United States v. Mosquera-Murillo, 902 F.3d 285 (D.C. Cir. 2018). One of Sooknanan’s most intensive cases from this time was her involvement in a multi-party litigation related to bonds issued by the Employee Retirement System of the Government of Puerto Rico. See In re Financial Oversight & Manage. Bd. of Puerto Rico, 914 F.3d 694 (1st Cir. 2019).

Notably, Sooknanan, alongside fellow former Supreme Court clerks Benjamin Mizer and Parker Rider-Longmaid, filed amicus briefs in support of the City of Charlottesville’s decision to remove Confederate statues. See City of Charlottesville v. Payne, 856 S.E.2d 203 (Va. 2021). The Virginia Supreme Court ultimately reversed a Circuit Court ruling putting the removal on hold. See id. However, due to Jones Day’s challenges to Pennsylvania election accommodations for the pandemic, Sooknanan resigned from Jones Day.

Since 2021, Sooknanan has been with the Department of Justice, most recently working with the Civil Rights Division.

Political Activity

Sooknanan has a limited political history, including donations to Secretary Hillary Clinton and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.

Overall Assessment

While Sooknanan doesn’t have experience as a public defender as Edelman did, her nomination is likely to prove fairly controversial as well. Her resignation of Jones Day and her work at the Civil Rights Division is likely to draw strong conservative opposition. With an election approaching, it remains to be seen if Sooknanan will be muscled through while Democrats have the attendance to do so.

928 Comments

  1. Joe's avatar

    Yep, expect to see a new batch next Wednesday. I am hopefully that we continue to see movement on the appellate vacancies, perhaps for the 1st or 6th. This batch would go before SJC on April 17.

    The batch after that should either April 3 or 10 for a May 1 or 8 SJC hearing.

    By my math, we have at most 10 SJC hearings (not counting the one next week) whose nominees the senate will have time to confirm prior to the end of the year. And this is assuming no delays from the WH and no cancelled senate weeks.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. keystone's avatar

    Thought this might be applicable to the 6th Circuit guesses.

    I found a 2021 article about the names floating around Nashville political circles to fill the then vacant MDTN US Attorney position.

    https://tennesseelookout.com/2021/02/24/analysis-names-to-watch-for-nashville-u-s-attorney-appointment/

    I also found an article from later on that year announcing that Henry Leventis was being vetted for the US Attorney role and it includes names believed to have been considered.

    https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2021/12/06/scoop-henry-leventis-vetted-us-attorney-nom

    Other than Levantis, Alex Little and Chris Sabis are the names that appear in both articles. The second article also included Tricia Herzfeld and Sara Beth Myers who are a lot more political than the other 3 names.

    Like

  4. keystone's avatar

    Apologies if this posts twice. WordPress is wordpressing. It apparently does not article links.

    Thought this might be applicable to the 6th Circuit guesses.

    I found a 2021 article on TennesseeLookout about the names floating around Nashville political circles to fill the then vacant MDTN US Attorney position.

    I also found another article on Axios from later on that year announcing that Henry Leventis was being vetted for the US Attorney role and it includes names believed to have been considered.

    Other than Leventis, Alex Little and Chris Sabis are the names that appear in both articles. The second article also included Tricia Herzfeld and Sara Beth Myers who are a lot more political than the other 3 names.

    I think this has been mentioned before but the first article says:

    “With a Democrat in the White House, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper will play a vital behind-the-scenes role in the appointment. Since he serves in the House, Cooper doesn’t formally confirm Biden’s selection, but his input is obviously welcomed from the Biden White House.”

    Like

  6. Zack's avatar

    I’m hoping next week we see new Circuit court nominees along with district court ones.For Maine, IMO the frontrunner has to be Darcie McElwee, who is a little older and is a moderate and one whom Susan Collins would be more likely to be okay with versus someone. like Julia Lipez.I don’t see the WH going so far as to nominate a Republican to this seat and allow it to flip back (this seat was once held by conservative judge Michael Boudin) to Republican hands.
    The WH is grateful for many of Susan Collins’s votes to confirm judges but not likely to be that grateful.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Zack's avatar

    On a different note, while Yoon and Dubose have to wait a while to get their commissions (10 months for the latter), I expect Harjani to get his commission in short order, as he is filling a judicial emergency.
    Also, as I’ve said before, once we get all the current Circuit court nominees confirmed, Biden will have had the second most confirmed in a four year period, surpassing George Sr.
    Not bad considering he only had two to start with.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. raylodato's avatar

    So as of now, we’ve had 185 confirmations (includes IT and those confirmed 2x since they had to go through hearings and votes twice–sorry Dequan) and we have 23 nominees at some part of the process.

    We’ve talked extensively as to who will probably have a tight vote, but it’s likely (IMHO) that all 23 will be confirmed before summer recess, which gets Biden to 208.

    There are also 17 district court vacancies (current & announced) in states w/2 Dem Sens, and 1 CCA vacancy in a purple state (ME). If all those got filled, we’d have 226. I assume some of the other 4 CCA vacancies will be filled, but not all. I just can’t see Blackburn agreeing to 2 more Dems on the 6th before the election (maybe one), and I don’t think Rubio & R. Scott are reliable negotiating partners for the 11th.

    All told, without some vacancy opening up in a blue state soon, Biden will get ohsoclose to Trump’s 234. It goes without saying that if Biden wins and keeps a D Senate, filling any remaining vacancies and those that pop up after the election should be a priority of Years 5 & 6.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

      @Raylodato

      I literally just bust out laughing at work… Lmao

      Liked by 2 people

  11. Zack's avatar

    As has been touched on here, at the end of the day, I don’t think Biden/Democrats will keep two seats open because they couldn’t reach a deal with two senators they’ve already ignored on a judge.
    Gibbons was and is the biggest wild card in all of this.

    Liked by 3 people

  12. star0garnet's avatar

    Any decisions yet on the scope of judgepedia? Current judges only? 21st century? Back to Brown? All-time? Article III courts? All federal courts? Magistrate judges? State supreme courts? State intermediate courts? Just bios? Or analysis of jurisprudence? Everything sourced? Nonpartisan? Presumably pages for courts? For cases? Is it trying to analyze cases as they are decided? (Presumably this last would require funding) Would it aim to be a centralized open-source repository of decisions a la Wikisource?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dequan's avatar

      Good questions. That was discussed at length with Harsh. Here’s what I think we came up with;

      Active judges only. If anybody wants to look up past judges then they can go to Wikipedia for that.

      A chart similar to Wikipedia for every circuit court, district court, all territory courts & the two local DC courts. Also a page for judges appointed by Biden, Trump & Obama. I don’t think we will go back further than that. if anybody is interested in the judges President Harrison appointed then Wikipedia would probably be the place for that… Lol

      I don’t see state courts being a part of Judgepedia. Also I would change a few of the columns from Wikipedia. I don’t think we need the “End of active service” or the “Ended senior status” columns. Also I would put the chief judge of each court in order of seniority instead of at the top & just indicate they are the chief judge by either a different color or some other indication.

      Definitely nothing opinioned based. We can leave the opinions here on the blog but for Judgepedia, it should be only factual information. I want to have the references on the page similar to Wikipedia.

      I will add a picture for each judge myself & I would like to be able to see it when the computer mouse hovers over their name. I put most of the judges pictures up before I left Wikipedia & still have them saved so that will be easy.

      Harsh will be the final decision maker for any disputes. I don’t foresee any but if there is, he can decide. That is much better than Wikipedia where it is by consensus which can turn into a popularity contest. ABSOLUTELY NO LET’S RUN… Haaaaaaaa

      We discussed limiting those who can edit to just the main people on the blog who has been good faith users over the years. Even those we disagree with at times (So yes of course @Frank is welcome… Lol).

      The sections I had in mind on each nominees’ pages include “Early life”, “Education”, “Career”, “Judicial service”, “Notable cases and/or rulings” & “Personal life”.

      As more cases come up in their career it can be added but again just the facts of the case. Sourced & nonpartisan.

      And I would like to add @Ethan’s list of possible judicial nominees. I think it’s the best comprehensive list I’ve ever seen & he is constantly updating it. Perhaps we can have a section & make pages for some of them in the future as well but that would be down the road.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Ryan J's avatar

        I agree with most of this, though I think that we should include pages for any judge who was active between Jan. 20, 2021, and the present (to avoid punishing them for letting Biden pick their successor). As judges who were active at the start of the blog move to senior status, we should keep those pages. We should allow analysis of jurisprudence given it is sourced. Additionally, I would support including a list of failed Obama, Trump, and Biden nominees since those will have been purged from Wikipedia by Let’s Run. Everything else I agree with.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Dequan's avatar

        Oh yea, I definitely agree with keeping pages one a judge leaves the bench. I think it’s idiotic to do all of that work & then just delete it once the judge leaves… Lol

        I like the failed nominees’ pages. I didn’t think of that but good idea for down the road after everything else gets up & running.

        I didn’t mention it above but I am of course also including courts like the Federal Claims court, International Trade, etc. Basically any court the President nominates the judges for regardless of if they are lifetime appointments or not.

        Liked by 2 people

  13. keystone's avatar

    I hope this will post.

    I found a 2016 paper from Stanford Law that attempted to measure judicial Ideology based on law clerk hiring. They created a measurement unit and then indexed everyone on a scale.

    On the most liberal side of the Appellate Court judges is:

    William Fletcher, then Stephen Reinhardt, then Marsha Berzon, followed by…….. Julia Smith Gibbons

    I’m not saying it’s accurate. I didn’t create this. I just thought it was interesting..

    https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SSRN-id2808200.pdf

    Liked by 4 people

    • Jamie's avatar

      This is based on the partisanship of the clerks they hire. If the study is accurate all it says is that Gibbons hires a lot of clerks that donated to Democrats after they left the clerkship. It doesn’t say that much about their judicial ideology.

      It would be good if someone did a statistical analysis on judicial ideology using their opinions/decisions as data, but it would probably take a long time and money (you’d also need lawyers to read through their opinions).

      Liked by 3 people

  14. tsb1991's avatar

    Happy Berner cloture vote day! I heard the Vice President is out in Minnesota today, so possibility due to an attendance disparity or a Manchin/Collins/Murkowski combo support that she wouldn’t be needed?

    Also, we should see cloture filings today for Tuesday and Wednesday’s vote next week. Really hope we get a double-vote Tuesday in absence of a Monday (confirm Berner and cloture on another nominee). If cloture is filed on any judges today, I’d put money on White, after that you’re down to red state and party-line nominees again (and maybe the party-line nominees could be setup for Wednesday).

    Also looming over the schedule is week is another minibus, which I’m sure the Senate can’t act until the House does. Probably another late Thursday/Friday affair with that, if that’s the case I hope the Texas nominees have their vote during Senate “overtime” (sometime after Thursday afternoon or Friday).

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Dequan's avatar

    The Berner cloture vote finally beginning. I thought the senators would never stop talking… Lol

    The Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti confirmed 89-1. Anybody have any idea why senator Kennedy was the only one to vote against him?

    Like

  21. Dequan's avatar

    The Berner vote is another reason why I have been saying Schumer should be doing circuit court cloture votes on Thursday’s. As long as you can whip your caucus into full attendance, it’s likely one or more Republican will want to skip out of town early & miss the vote. The last vote every Thursday should be a circuit court cloture vote until there are no more left, absent any attendance issues.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. tsb1991's avatar

    Cloture invoked 48-40. Schumer came out to file cloture on Kiel and Lee!

    No wrapup yet, but he did confirm the confirmation vote for Berner will be 5:30PM on Tuesday. Hopefully Kiel or Lee will have a cloture vote right after Berner is confirmed, as if they have the attendance to confirm Berner that day, they’ll have the attendance for another party-line vote.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Dequan's avatar

      @Lillie

      Such a shame about Mangi for sure. Even more of a shame is now we will likely get a crappy replacement for him. This White House seems to think 35 years old is too young for a 3rd circuit court judge even if he is the solicitor general of New Jersey so we will get a downgrade nominee unfortunately. Horrible situation all around.

      The article says the White House is still working behind the scenes to get the votes to confirm him but I don’t see how you get no votes changed to yes as the election grows closer. I know some have mentioned Democrats could wait until after the election to vote on him but to me that’s extremely too risky. Anything can happen between now & then. I wouldn’t risk that strategy on the heartbeat of a red state senate Democrat. Too many things can go wrong between now & November. Either Mangi has the votes or sadly The White House should move on. This seat is too valuable.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Jamie's avatar

        This should be settled next week. Have a cloture vote for him, if it gets rejected then move on. Biden and Schumer have to be seen as going all out for him and having it fail because of others.

        I also wouldn’t be surprised if Biden goes off the list and elevates Judge Zahid Quraishi here, although he isn’t entirely beloved by all Muslims. I doubt he’d be rejected. 

        Liked by 1 person

  28. Zack's avatar

    We all knew there was going to be bigotry involved with Mangi’s nomination but IMO, the kiss of death for him getting confirmed was when he apologized last week to the Senate judiciary committee last week for failing to disclose meetings he had with a couple of different groups that have members with links to questionable groups.
    Yes, the people who dug it up are right wing hacks and he likely doesn’t share those views himself but still, it is NOT a good look he failed to disclose that.
    IMO, as much as I hate it, it’s time to admit defeat and move on, as this seat is too important to keep open.
    I hope this means Jeremy Feigenbaum will be getting a second look but if not him, then someone else and sooner versus later.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Mike's avatar

    Schumer only setting up 2 district judges for next week makes me think the confirmation vote isn’t going to be on Monday.

    There goes having the first Muslim American circuit court judge, I’m 100% positive Fetterman is one of the nos.

    Not a good luck for Biden in Michigan.

    Liked by 1 person

  30. keystone's avatar

    I just wrapped up a work call. Looks like it was an eventful 45 minutes.

    We give him a lot of crap, but well played, Schumer on orchestrating today’s vote.

    Hopefully, the Dem senators and the VP will be in town for more than just one day and they can blast through a bunch of the party line votes.

    Sucks about Mangi. I hate to say this, but I hope they keep him around so that he can distract from Aframe, Kasubhai, Russell, and Ali confirmed.

    Mangi and Berner were nominated together. If they had gone with Jeremy Feignbaum, both circuit noms would be Jewish and LGBT.

    Should we be worried that Menendez might pull some shenanigans with regards to a replacement nom?

    Liked by 2 people

  31. Hank's avatar

    Yes, I’d like to see a Mangi cloture vote just so we know who the bigoted, Islamophobic senator is – given that Manchin’s definitely a no and only one more Dem needs to be a no to tank the nomination, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Fetterman. Being able to pin it on a senator would help the WH avoid more backlash from Muslim voters and help that senator appeal to whatever bigots they think is their voting base (though if Middle Eastern turnout plummets and Biden/the Dems lose Michigan, they’ve honestly earned it).

    I wonder if the WH might be trying to gauge whether any of the Dem senators would be willing to support Mangi (or at least abstain/not show up to vote) after the election. That would save the hassle of choosing and vetting another candidate (and arguably puts off any backlash until after the election), but runs the risk of leaving the seat open if the senator says now that they’ll not block Mangi after the election and then changes their mind later. 

    I think the safer bet is to just pick someone new. I doubt it’ll be Quraishi though, as he would raise similar issues – I’m sure the likes of Carrie Severino will find some Muslim lawyers group that he’s been a part of (if not his mosque) and falsely claim that it’s equivalent to Hamas, and then the same spineless Dem senators will fold again. After all, the Republicans have apparently found a strategy that works to tank a Dem nominee to a court that is evenly split (and could flip to an R majority if Trump wins) – why would they give up now.

    Truly disgusting that an upstanding lawyer like Mangi has been smeared like this because of his faith while Christian nationalist nut jobs like Kacsmaryk and Duncan are ruining the lives of millions of people as we speak. At this point, can anyone blame Muslim voters for feeling no obligation to support a Democratic Party that will abandon them at the first opportunity?

    Liked by 2 people

  33. Zack's avatar

    Schumer isn’t going to waste floor time on a cloture/nominee vote for someone he knows doesn’t have the votes and put certain senators on the spot.
    Also, how is it Biden’s fault if a couple of Democratic senators voted no, he can’t force people to vote yes if they don’t want to.
    As for Michigan, not going to jump into beyond the fact that if you look at the vote in 2022, the Muslim vote was already trending away from Democrats due to reproductive and LGBT rights issues, yet Whitmer still won easily.
    This won’t have an effect beyond folks tuned in.
    Stinks but that’s the reality.
    I do agree that it’s angering to see him attacked over his faith when you have far right hacks pushing a Christian theocracy but I think Mangi could have survived all that if he hadn’t omitted certain things from the judiciary committee.
    Once that happened, his fate was sealed.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Hank's avatar

      This is about as BS as your take on Gibbons being a wild-card – forgetting to mention a panel he didn’t even speak on, but just moderated (among the hundreds of things he has to include in an SJQ) is not what tanks a nominee. This is Islamophobia, plain and simple. I may donate to Rosen’s Republican opponent just to spite that disgusting old hag.

      The literal job of the leader of the Democratic Party is to get the votes to do what they need to do. Any Dem in a swing district/state loves to vote against the party to show how “moderate”/“independent” they are – that didn’t stop Pelosi from twisting arms and getting things done when she was speaker. All this shows is a lack of spine and leadership on Biden/Schumer’s part.

      And ah yes, Biden’s totally in the exact same position now as Whitmer was in 2022. He’s definitely not severely unpopular or behind in polls and can afford to alienate lots of voters. 

      Liked by 4 people

      • Jamie's avatar

        “I may donate to Rosen’s Republican opponent just to spite that disgusting old hag.”

        “Disgusting old hag”?  And donating to a GOP candidate for the Senate to make it harder to confirm any nominees in the future? Wow.

        It sure seems that the anti-Biden left both here and elsewhere are also the least civil. Perhaps this is also why you keep losing within the party. 

        Liked by 3 people

      • Hank's avatar

        I’m more than happy to be civil when it’s warranted, but why waste time with civility when people are losing rights or suffering discrimination on the basis of who they are—and especially when Democrats are pretending to be one thing when they need votes and another when the rubber meets the road.

        And you know where you stand with a Republican, whereas a snake in the grass like Rosen wastes all of our time and then doesn’t even have the spine to be candid about her bigotry. I’m more than happy to retract my description of Rosen if she ends up not being the problem, but given that she’s already blocked Edelman, she should join Sinema in retirement so Dems in Nevada can get a decent human being to represent them.

        Liked by 2 people

  34. Joe's avatar

    Unfortunate news on Mangi….perhaps there is some politicking that can go on behind closed doors to line up the votes. But if not then it may be best to go ahead and move on.

    New Jersey should have no dearth of qualified candidates, but getting the Senators there to pick one of them is another story. Haha.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. tsb1991's avatar

    Carper wrapped up. Looks like the cloture motions will ripen Wednesday, so no double-vote Tuesday.

    This means at least four votes on Wednesday, for cloture and confirmation on both Lee and Kiel. Maybe one of the Texas nominees could be squeezed in.

    I figured of the party-line district nominees, Lee and Kiel were probably going to be the least difficult ones to confirm. Would have to think Ali would also be easier to confirm than Kasubhai or Russell.

    Aframe’s confirmation prospects were just mentioned here. I’d still be surprised if Aframe wasn’t confirmed. He didn’t get hounded at his hearing the same way Mangi, Russell, or Kasubhai did, we’ll see if cloture is filed on him Tuesday for a Thursday vote.

    Liked by 4 people

  36. Zack's avatar

    @ The attacks on him from Marsha Blackburn aside, I think Aframe will get confirmed too, it’s going to be a party line vote, just like Berner’s is clearly going to be.
    Just going to be a question of when he’s confirmed.
    As for district court judges, I expect Robert White will likely be teed up along with the TX judges before they do the party line vote judges with some voice votes for some of the Republican nominees at the end.
    Hoping that before Easter Break, we have most of the pending nominees confirmed aside from Mangi whom the writing is on the wall for.

    Liked by 1 person

      • Zack's avatar

        @Dequan, the second part of your post is the answer to why they are objecting to voice votes on the Utah and Nebraska nominees.
        They know they will get confirmed easily but want to waste floor time so it will be harder for those who won’t be to get votes.
        This is where you push them to the back of the line.
        If Republicans want to waste time at the end on their nominees, so be it.
        They can be left hanging in the wind for all I care.

        Liked by 1 person

  37. Gavi's avatar

    Wow, this one stings. This period of 2024 has got to be the worst for judicial nominations under a Dem WH and Senate as far as I can remember.

    It’s so disappointing and I can’t even consider how bad the replacement might be. Forget about being previously rejected as a candidate, replacing the would-be first Muslim circuit court judge with a Jewish one wouldn’t look that great to the few people who care about, and vote on such things.

    This is the sort of weakness some folks think is still acceptable, because the alternative is worse. Rubbish. Some times you earn your defeat with your weakness or terrible politics.

    Mangi’s vote was always going to be a litmus test for me, so I really wish Schumer would still put it up for a vote. Let’s all see who the lily-livered senators are. And as others have said, since voting for him would have been such a political liability, the conserve is true, no? Put your vote where your mouth is and vote about him. Show off that you vote against a caricature created by Republicans.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Hank's avatar

      100% agree with you both, Gavi and aangren – McConnell would never tolerate one of his backbenchers tanking a circuit nominee in an election year (let alone when that nominee fills a vacancy that decides the balance of a circuit). A Republican house means that judicial nominees are the most (if not the only) important thing the Senate does right now. If the likes of Jacky Rosen want DSCC money for their campaigns, they need to vote like Democrats—not Republicans—on the important things and find something else to seem all “independent” on. 

      Don’t get me wrong, the Israeli-Palestinian issue is complicated and brings up heated emotions for both sides. But Mangi is a nominee for a judgeship that has nothing to do with foreign relations, and he has literally never said or done anything suggesting that he’s a Hamas sympathizer. This means that Rosen (and whoever else is obstructing Mangi) is either (1) so stupid that she can’t tell the difference, or (2) more loyal to the hard-right Netanyahu than her own majority leader and president. 

      Democratic voters deserve better, and at the very least, they deserve to know who she really is.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Gavi's avatar

        Speaking of McConnell, he got an actual, certified birther confirmed to CA6. No one argues that birtherism is racist! Yet that didn’t stop John Bush from getting confirmed with the votes of Collins and Murkowski. You know why, because you don’t vote against your party judges.

        I see people on here saying you can’t blame Biden/Schumer for how senators vote. What do they think being a party leader means? Just a title, bigger salary, and a nicer office? There’s an actual position called the whip! What use is a whip, especially one that’s also the floor manager of judicial nominations and the chair of SJC?

        I remember Nancy Pelosi calling a House Member’s priest to get him to vote for Obamacare! That’s what leaders do. But maybe they have a point: Biden/Schumer can’t do this because of how weak they are with their rank and file. Sad.

        The Dem nay-voters need to eat this one.

        Liked by 2 people

  38. aangren's avatar

    This one hurts big time, congrats to charlatans carrie severino and other bigots who worked their ass off and did this, a great victory for the racists and bigots, second to rufo getting the harvard dean to resign, and shame on the democratic senators who cowered to these bigots hostage taking.

    What gets me is that in a world where a vile man like kyle duncan can be confirmed by the GOP with no problems or a radical like lawrence vandyke that mangi cant be a judge on a circuit court. This is pure cowardice.

    The GOP can nominate racists and in open homophobic bigots to the federal bench and their confirmation wont ever be doubt, but decent folks like todd edelman, mangi, have to drop out. I say hold the vote on cloture and let it fail so we can see where everyone stands on this. Hank i applaud your boldness and straight talk please continue your assertiveness on this forum, anyone that doesnt tow the line or wants to play patsy with these republican devils are deemed as a troll.

    People are losing their rights and liberties and this guys want to police and tone down peoples language and outrage, the second you say what you dont like they deem you a troll. I support hank

    Liked by 3 people

  39. Mike S.'s avatar

    I am surprised and disappointed to read about Mangi. I was also shocked to see Berner will be a party line vote. I guess both of my predictions were wrong, although I still believe Aframe will be confirmed. It’s a real shame, sometimes allegations of racism get thrown around pretty easily these days, but this truly seems to be a real case of islamophobia. Mangi just doesn’t deserve this, but in the current environment, he might just succumb to the politics of it all.

    If that’s the case, pull the nomination and nominate Jeremy Feigenbaum as quickly as possible. I don’t really care how old he is (maybe 36?), he’s clearly well qualified…

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hank's avatar

      Oh and lastly, I agree with Gavi that it would be pretty bad optics to pick the Jewish Jeremy Feigenbaum for the same seat that the first Muslim nominee was blocked from based on unfounded charges of antisemitism.* Thanks a lot, Rosen (and whoever else) – you screwed over two qualified lawyers who would make great judges.

      *This is assuming the WH suddenly decided that Feigenbaum is no longer too young. I suspect that was because they know a 35-year-old would be another party-line confirmation because the Republicans will attack him for not having enough experience. With even less time for the whole vetting/confirmation process now (thanks again, Rosen you bigot), my guess is that they’ll pick the oldest/least progressive person on that list of finalists.

      Liked by 1 person

  40. aangren's avatar

    Gavi this is the same president right now trying to negotiate in good faith with an open charlatan like marsha blackburn for a 6th circuit nomination when her only goal is to stall and stall, this is the same president that let a vile charlatan in ted cruz and cornyn force him to pick a 59 year old moderate nominee nearly 10 years older than her predecessor for an important circuit court seat on the bench all not to upset the bad faith charlatans, While trump shoved federalist society hack after hack down the democratic senators throats even against bidens own vice presidents objections

    This is the same president who will bend over backwards to work with rubio and scott to find a ”compromise” choice for a circuit seat they should have no say over at all when he could just nominate a strong progressive lawyer there. it sickens me to the core that a racist filthy birther in john bush ,who questioned the first black president citizenship status has lifetenure on an appellate court but todd edelman and now mangi wont have that same opportunity. I said it at the beginning biden at heart and the democrats are fundamentally cowards and its seems more people on here are being more open about calling it out.

    I was the only one on here saying it for years and was smear and deemed a troll because i dared call out the feckless dear leader in biden. This ends one way or the other in novemeber and by the polls it looks like the guy will finally be put out of his misery.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Dequan's avatar

      I am not worried about a Jewish nominee replacing Mangi. The fact of the matter is not getting him across the finish line some way, some how, will piss off an already pissed of Muslim & Arab-American population that this administration is losing ground with. Whoever his non-Muslim replacement will be is not going to make a difference so we might as well get the best replacement we can. I can’t imagine any Muslim thinking they are pissed off about Mangi but will still vote for Biden, all of a something saying replacing him with a Jewish nominee will now make them not vote for him.

      And for those suggesting Zahid Quraishi as a replacement, remember it was progressives, not Republicans that pushed back against his nomination. I don’t think the Muslim wants ANY Muslim to be the first circuit court judge. They likely want a fighter like Mangi.

      On to the possible replacements. From the old list, only Jeremy Feigenbaum is as good. Justice Fabiana Pierre-Louis would probably be second best but she withdrew. I am not sure THIS White House can convince her to change her mind now no more than they can convince Rosen or whatever other senators are tanking Mangi to vote for him.

      U.S. Magistrate Judge Jose Almonte would be the next best but not as good as Mangi. Michael Farbiarz is no progressive so that, plus the fact that we would have to backfill his district court seat likely with an even crappier Menendez recommended nominee makes him a bad pick.

      First Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna would be a bad choice. Superior Court Appellate judge Lisa Perez Friscia would be reaching Ramirez/Childs/Pan territory as a horrible pick.

      My hope (Although not confident about it) would be two other names would be added to the mix. Both of them would have more time on the bench than when the search first started. Justice Rachel Wainer Apter would be an instant A+. My out of the box pick to be added to the list would be Jamel Semper. There is precedent for Biden elevating a district court judge he recently put on the court such as Sarah Merriam. Booker is very on Semper & with Biden only furthering his net loss of Black men on the circuit courts, his name could get thrown into the mix now that he has been a judge for about half a year by the time his nomination would be considered by the SJC.

      But no option is better than fighting for Mangi & getting him across the finish line. This is truly a lose/lose if that can’t be done.

      Liked by 1 person

  41. SuddenlyathisResidence's avatar

    As a longtime lurker and Muslim-American, I don’t want to act all whiny about the Mangi confirmation, but damn, it hurts. And I’ll be honest, I think for many educated, liberal Muslims (including me), this failure will probably be the last straw vis-á-vis our support for Biden and most Democrats in the upcoming elections. It might not have that major an impact, but I think it likely solidifies a Muslim drift from the Democratic Party writ large. A shame.

    Like

  42. Mike's avatar

    Didn’t the GOP also confirm someone who wrote blatantly homophonic papers when they were in college? I think he’s now the texas judge the right keeps judge shopping and includes bible references in his judgements and tried to block FDA approval for an abortion drug nationwide.

    Guess as long as he’s not Muslim it’s ok.

    Liked by 1 person

  43. keystone's avatar

    I think Vikas Khanna has been playing a part in the Menendez investigation. So not sure what that would mean for him getting nominated. I think he’s be the 1st South Asian on the court (as would Mangi).

    Rachel Wainer Apter would be an incredible replacement, but I’d be shocked if they’d nominate her given how long and contentious her confirmation was for her current position on the NJSC.

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Zack's avatar

    Going to say a couple of things on here which I know will annoy some folks.
    So be it.
    Let’s say Schumer brings up Adeel’s nomination and it fails.
    Then what?
    You think think Bob Casey (likely a no vote due to Adeel’s ties to Alliance of Families for Justice which supports the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal) should face a primary challenge?
    Same goes with Rosen in NV (if she is a no vote, we don’t know that.)
    NV is still a purple state on a federal level and this idea tossing her aside for someone who will meet the purity standards of some folks who can still win doesn’t seem like a smart move to me.
    Also, yes Republicans put horrible people on the courts under Trump and it sucks at the time that they didn’t face immediate consequences for it but starting in 2018 (we did pick up a couple of seats) onwards to 2022 in purple/blue states, we’ve been able to make Republicans pay which is why we’ve held the Senate the past four years.
    And just as Republicans live in a bubble which cost them in 2022 to a large degree, so do some folks here.
    It was always going to be a given that Adeel was going to face attacks on his faith but he could have survived those if that was all that was there.
    Some of the other stuff that’s come out like his ties to a group that had a convicted cop killer as their president is an issue that won’t play well in swing/red states and it’s NEVER a good look when you have to apologize to the Senate Judiciary Committee for failing to disclose something.
    Turns out those things that a couple of us said mattered actually did in the end.
    I wanted him confirmed and it sucks that he likely won’t be but it what it is.
    One person doesn’t matter more then the greater good of filling the seat with someone who won’t be a far right hack.
    One more thing, I see a lot of so called progressive folks here that sure seem eager to see Republicans back in power as if somehow that will punish Biden.
    It won’t, he’ll retreat to his beach house in Delaware and be fine.
    The rest of us who will have to suffer under Trump and right wing hacks on the courts so many of you claim to hate but want to do everything to ensure there will be more of won’t be.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Joe's avatar

      Agree with pretty much everything Zack says here.

      Not getting Mangi confirmed sucks. It really does. But Mangi is not uniquely progressive and his nomination failing is not necessarily the end of the world; provided of course we can get an equal or better replacement. In most of the times when a nominee has failed with this administration we’ve turned around and done just that, getting an equal or better nominee (Delaney to Aframe, Edelman to Sooknanan).

      One lost nominee is not cause for turning on each other. Democrats would be ill advised to lose sight of the greater project, which is remake the judiciary. That involves numbers and consistently pushing through good nominees and not picking fights in the senate.

      Liked by 3 people

      • keystone's avatar

        Well put. I’ve been a little surprised by some of the reactions. Mangi is fantastic. He’d 100% make a great judge. But when the nomination was announced I’m pretty sure some people commented on the fact that he is a big firm corporate lawyer and he is young but is towards the upper limit of the age range. He’s done some phenomenal work but some of these “eulogies” make him sound like he was the progressive love child of RGB and Dale Ho.

        This one def sucks bc of the gross personal attack the Republicans made on him. And we know it’s gonna happen again.

        And keep in mind, we’re basing this off of ONE article, granted, it’s from a reputable source, but it ain’t over til it’s over. And if it is true, we’ll get a candidate who will hopefully be good. But if they are meh, then we can put that in the category of lackluster NJ picks and it will give us something to gripe about for years to come (which I think might be some folks’ fave pass time).

        The great work begins….

        Liked by 3 people

    • Jamie's avatar

      I think people are putting way too much weight from past actions in determining who is opposed. I *really doubt* that Casey was a no on Mangi. He opposed Debo Adegbile more than a decade ago because he was directly involved in the Mumia Abu-Jamal case, not just associations like in this case. The FOP has lost a lot of their influence. And also Casey has moved a bit to the left in the last decade, for example he used to be solidly anti-choice, he’s now pro-choice. If Adegbile were nominated today, I’d bet that Casey votes yes. 

      I also strongly disagree the failure to disclose some information was the reason why his nomination failed. It gave an excuse for some who already didn’t want him confirmed to oppose him. But I don’t think Mangi would have had the votes whether he had disclosed or not. You clearly don’t want to accept it, but his faith and in particular associations with Muslim groups is the primary reason why his nomination failed. Judge Zahid Quraishi doesn’t have the latter (which is why I believe he’d have much less trouble being confirmed). 

      I can’t agree more with your last four sentences however.

      Liked by 2 people

  45. Villast's avatar

    I’m a longtime lurker inspired to come out of the shadows by some of the “masks off” antisemitic moments I’m getting from posters here today. AFAIK there’s no firm evidence Rosen was the one to tank Mangi’s nomination, but some of the regulars here are jumping to conclude the Jewish woman who worked for the synagogue must have been the one to have done it because she tanked Edelman. That just shows your ignorance since Todd Edelman is Jewish himself. Instead of calling her the bigoted hag, why don’t you just say what you actually think and call her the Jew bitch or even more honestly the “k*ke”?

    That and accusing her of dual loyalty, which is an age old antisemitic trope. Go fuck yourselves. This is what leftists and progressives within our party are revealing themselves to be: irredeemable bigots who barely even bother to refute charges of antisemitism feebly by masking it as antizionism anymore, instead claiming we deserve it.

    Like

    • Dequan's avatar

      Angela Cal seems to be only a year or so older than Jeremy Feigenbaum. She certainly seems liberal with work at the Legal Assistance Clinic & ACLU Criminal Justice Clinic. But if the WHC thinks 35 is too young, I’m not sure if 37 is too far off. That is the root problem of the thinking for the pick. Once we get them pass that, either choice would be really good if not great.

      Like

      • Zack's avatar

        We’ve had a few nominees in their late 30’s so I don’t think Cai being 37 would hurt her.
        Have to wait and see.
        I expect in the next couple of week’s we’ll see an announcement that Adeel has withdrawn.
        Again, I liked him as a nominee overall but at the end of the day, there was just too much going on against him in an election year for him to survive.

        Liked by 1 person

  48. Aubrey's avatar

    If some senators such as Fetterman and Manchin are genuinely opposed to Mangi, and he does not have the votes for that reason, it’s time to withdraw. If senators like Rosen, Tester, and Casey are merely worried about attack ads in an election year, Schumer should wait for the lame duck session to get Mangi confirmed.

    Democrats should not let Carrie Severino have the power to block nominees. As someone else noted earlier, this playbook could easily be used on any Muslim nominee who has even the slightest connection to a mosque or professional association that has made statements supporting the Palestinians. Democrats should be wary of setting that precedent.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Jamie's avatar

      This is too risky for me and it doesn’t get you any of the political benefits that confirming Mangi right now would. There’s also nothing that prevents the GOP from just running more ads attacking senators for not rejecting Mangi from now until November. Either you confirm him soon or you move on. 

      Mangi is not the only good judge for this position, and filling it is a must. 

      Liked by 2 people

      • Dequan's avatar

        @Jaime

        Exactly. Waiting until after the section is too risky. Do we not know how many Democrat senators are in states with a Republican governor. Let’s not even get into how many of those senators are over 65. I’m not risking a circuit court seat on any of their heartbeats.

        I really want Mangi confirmed as I don’t see the argument some have made that he has been a corporate lawyer has anything to do with the landmark progressive cases he has litigated being an issue. But if he doesn’t have the votes let’s please move on while there is still time. It’s almost the end of March for Gods sake.

        Liked by 1 person

  49. Zack's avatar

    Was looking up stuff and I was reminded of the fact that back in 2014, Bob Casey helped sink the nomination of Debo Adegbile as United States Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division because he had represented Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner.
    That is STILL a hot topic in PA politics today and once Mangi’s ties to a group that wants Mumia released came out, that likely cost him Casey’s vote but Fetterman’s as well.
    Throw in Manchin and likely Sinema and that sadly is all she wrote.
    I will say I agree with Aubrey about not allowing Carrie Severino veto power over nominees but she opposed Dale Ho, Jennifer Su among others whom got confirmed and just wrote an article telling people to call their senators and oppose Nicole Berner, who is certainly going to get confirmed next week (albeit on a party line vote.)
    It sucks Mangi likely isn’t going to be confirmed especially with the ugly attacks against him and his faith but like I said in a prior post, he could have survived those.
    Some of the other stuff that’s come out since then he couldn’t.
    Politics suck and this is just another example of that.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Carmine's avatar

      Unfortunately I can’t help but think that some of the passion behind the eulogies for his nomination came from the fact that, with no evidence, certain posters here were eager to attack Jackie Rosen as the reason his nomination failed. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that she’s a Jewish woman and that people are taking out their anger about Islamophobia through antisemitism, including allegations of Jewish plots and baseless, classically antisemitic attributions of dual loyalty? I’m a longtime lurker who came out of the shadows solely because this disgusted me so much. I wonder what words people would be using besides “hag” off the record.

      FWIW I’m a New Jersey Jew who strongly supported Mangi’s nomination and wrote Booker and Menendez urging his confirmation in spite of what I consider baseless accusations of antisemitism.

      Like

  50. tsb1991's avatar

    Not that anything major was going to happen, but yesterday’s SJC meeting was cancelled (all that was on the agenda I think was a Marshall and a bill to vote on). An SJC meeting is posted for next week, they could hold it and vote on that stuff but hopefully the nominees from the 3/6 hearing will be listed and held over. They’ll probably cancel it and just vote on everything the week they get back on 4/11.

    I mentioned how there wouldn’t be a double-vote on Tuesday, which I think they really should do on weeks they have Mondays off, where you could line it up and confirm one nominee and then cloture on the next just to get the ball rolling. I think the only time they tend to do this is if they spend the week working on a bill, where they’ll vote to confirm a nominee to start the week and then start the procedural votes on whatever bill they’re working on.

    Biggest question mark next week is Thursday and when the House passes the other minibus. Best case scenario is we get cloture on Aframe at 1:45PM Thursday and the Senate goes back to work on the minibus (which if that were to happen you’d probably hear Schumer ask UC for all postcloture time to be expired and then a confirmation vote would happen at a later time). Another possibility is that if the Senate is working on party-line nominees next week, cloture on Ali could be filed on Tuesday and then he could have cloture on Thursday morning and then confirmation that afternoon. Most likely the Senate stays the Friday to work on the minibus like last week.

    Liked by 2 people

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