Susan Rosenberg is one of the country's most notorious domestic terrorists. She landed on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list at age 29 and served in a women-led communist group that bombed the U.S. Senate chamber in 1983.
Now, more than two decades after her controversial release from prison, she serves on the advisory board of an anti-prison group alongside embattled judicial nominee Adeel Mangi.
Rosenberg and Mangi, President Joe Biden's nominee for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, have served together for five years on the advisory board of the Alliance of Families for Justice, a New York-based nonprofit that says it aims to "end mass incarceration." Mangi joined the group in 2019 as part of his pro bono work for an inmate killed by prison guards. Rosenberg, whom the alliance calls a "former political prisoner," spoke at the group's launch in 2016.
Mangi has already come under intense scrutiny over his links to the alliance, which has hailed convicted cop-killers, including Mumia Abu Jamal and Mutulu Shakur, as "freedom fighters." But the group's affiliation with Rosenberg, which has not been previously reported, underscores an affinity for domestic terrorists that could add to Mangi's woes. Republicans have rallied in opposition to Mangi, and two Democrats have said they'll vote against him. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D., Nev.) cited Mangi's links to the Alliance of Families for Justice as rationale for her opposition.
The extent of Mangi's relationship with Rosenberg is unclear—he did not respond to a request for comment—but her terrorist activity is no secret. It came back into the spotlight in 2020, after revelations that Rosenberg served on the board of a left-wing group, Thousand Currents, that bankrolled Black Lives Matter organizations.
Rosenberg, a former member of the Weather Underground and May 19th Communist Organization, a women-led revolutionary group, was sentenced to 58 years in prison in 1985 after she was found with explosives intended for use in political bombings. Then-president Bill Clinton commuted her sentence in 2001, drawing condemnation from police groups, Republicans, and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.).
Rosenberg, now 68, joined the Weather Underground and the May 19th Communist Organization in the 1970s. In 1979, she allegedly helped Assata Shakur, who was serving time for murdering a New Jersey state trooper, escape prison. The FBI placed Rosenberg on its "Most Wanted" list over her alleged role in the 1981 Brink's armored truck robbery, in which two police officers were murdered. Kathy Boudin, a founding board member of the Alliance of Families for Justice, was convicted of murder for her role in the heist.
In 1983, the May 19th Communist Organization orchestrated a string of politically motivated bombings at the U.S. Senate chamber and the National War College in Washington, D.C. In 1984, members of the radical group bombed the South African consulate, the Israeli Aircraft Industries Building, and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association in New York.
Rosenberg went on the lam, but she was arrested in New Jersey in November 1984 after she was found with 600 pounds of dynamite, machine guns, and other artillery, which was to be used in bombings. In 1988, prosecutors charged Rosenberg and six of her comrades in connection with the 1983 bombing spree, but they dropped the charges against Rosenberg after three participants pleaded guilty.
Rosenberg has enjoyed some mainstream success since her release from prison. She is an adjunct lecturer in gender studies at Hunter College in New York and served for more than a decade as communications director of the American Jewish World Service, a left-of-center charity that fights poverty in the Global South.
In 2016, she attended an awards ceremony to honor then-vice president Biden.
Mangi has downplayed his affiliation with the Alliance of Families for Justice and pleaded ignorance about some of its controversial activities. He said in a letter to senators last week that he does not recall meeting Boudin, the alliance's founding board member, though he did not deny knowing about her conviction for murdering police officers. He said that he was unaware of the alliance's reference to cop-killers as "freedom fighters" and that he rejected that characterization.
The White House, which has accused Republicans of opposing Mangi because he is Muslim, did not respond to a request for comment. Rosenberg and the Alliance of Families for Justice did not respond to comment requests.