GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden's nomination of the first Muslim American to a federal appeals court has come under intense criticism and appears to be in peril.

Laura Barron-Lopez has more -- Laura.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That's right, Geoff.

President Biden's nominee to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Adeel Mangi, is a veteran litigator unanimously rated well-qualified by the American Bar Association.

But he's faced a barrage of attacks from Republican senators, which the White House says amounts to an Islamophobic smear campaign.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Do you believe that Zionist settler colonialism was a provocation that justified Hamas' atrocity against Jews in Israel?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Do you condemn the atrocities of the Hamas terrorists?

ADEEL MANGI, Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Nominee: Yes, that's what I was about to address, Senator.

SEN. TED CRUZ: Is there any justification for those atrocities?

ADEEL MANGI: Senator, I will repeat myself.

The events of October 7 were a horror.

I have no patience, none, for any attempts to justify or defend those events.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And conservative outside groups have launched ads baselessly labeling Mangi as antisemitic, despite his nomination being endorsed by more than a dozen Jewish organizations.

To discuss this, I'm joined by former federal judge Timothy K. Lewis, who was appointed to the same Circuit Court of Appeals as Mangi by then-Republican President George H.W.

Bush.

Judge Lewis, thank you so much for joining.

I want to start by asking you.

You recently sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in defense of Adeel Mangi.

Why did you feel compelled to send that?

TIMOTHY K. LEWIS, Former Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge: Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me.

I felt compelled to send that because of what I consider to be outrageous, baseless, and really sad attacks on Mr. Mangi's character.

I thought that they were -- I know that they were initially rooted in his religion.

They had nothing to do at all with his competence, with his experience, with his qualifications to serve on the court I was honored to sit on for a number of years.

And I just thought that it's so outrageous, that something had to be done.

And, quite honestly, it was an honor to have the opportunity to stand up on his behalf.

When I have a sense that someone is being slandered and really torn down based on these kinds of untruths and bigotry and all of the horrible things that were said at the Judiciary Committee hearing and written about him afterward, there was just no way that I could stand by and allow that to happen.

And, frankly, I think that most Americans feel the same way.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Judge, the attacks from Republicans appears to have also had an impact on Senate Democrats.

This week, Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada came out against Mangi's nomination.

She takes issue with Mangi's affiliation with a nonprofit organization called the Alliance of Families for Justice.

And she states that: "This organization advocated for the release of individuals convicted of killing police officers.

I cannot support this nominee."

Judge, what's your response to her statement?

TIMOTHY K. LEWIS: Well, my response is that I would hope that she would reconsider that position while there is still time to do so.

Her decision is, respectfully, rooted in the same kinds of baseless lies and smears that the religious claims against Mr. Mangi were based, associating him with terrorists and antisemites and so forth, none of which is true.

And the record clearly demonstrates that.

The same is true here.

The organization that we are talking about is a group that reached out to Mr. Mangi to ask for pro bono services on behalf of an inmate who had been murdered in the New York prison system.

And this was not even a criminal case.

It was a civil lawsuit that he brought.

He achieved a landmark settlement on behalf of the family that not only helped the prisoner's family, but also helped the prison and, in doing so, helped prison guards, because the cameras were installed throughout the prison.

This is honorable work.

This is the kind of work that we value, we encourage in our profession.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And we should note that Senator Cortez Masto has voted for at least one judicial nominee in the past who represented a man charged with murdering a police officer.

That was under the Trump administration.

And so has Senator Ted Cruz, as well as a number of other Republicans voted for judicial nominees who were -- either represented people who were charged or convicted of murdering police officers.

But, Judge, I do want to ask you.

It isn't new for judicial nominees to face partisan attacks.

And so is this just the price of politics now for judicial nominees?

TIMOTHY K. LEWIS: When I see this sort of thing happen, it is beyond politics.

Obviously, politics plays a role in judicial nominations and in just about everything else that happens in the Senate and in the House and in Washington.

But this is way beyond that.

It's interesting that you just noted those other votes that were taken in connection with people who had committed heinous crimes against police officers, and they voted were affirmatively by Senator Cruz and by others.

They were not Muslims.

I mean, we cannot allow ourselves to really debase ourselves by sinking to such a level.

This is the first Muslim nominee for an appeals court in the history of the United States.

And under the thin pretext of these issues that have been thoroughly debunked, we are seeing people change their votes or not -- or decide not to vote in favor.

And it's just a very sad moment.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Judge, in your letter to Senators Schumer and Senators McConnell, you said that: "Rejecting Mr. Mangi's nomination would have a toxic long-term impact on the entire federal judiciary.

We need more diversity on the bench."

What long-term impact are you talking about there?

TIMOTHY K. LEWIS: I know, because I have been told by other members of the Muslim faith in the wake of what has happened to Mr. Mangi -- and these are very prominent Muslim lawyers -- that they do not feel that it would be worth pursuing a federal judgeship in this climate and in this atmosphere.

That is awful.

That is terrible.

And that should not be condoned.

We need diversity on the federal bench and on appellate courts and courts throughout the country because of the lived experience that each judge, each person who serves brings.

And we see how that manifests at the United States Supreme Court level and below.

And it's very important that we have that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That's former federal Judge Timothy K. Lewis.

Thank you for your time.

TIMOTHY K. LEWIS: It's my pleasure and my honor.

Thank you for having me.