AAPI advocates are calling for Biden to withdraw his nomination for one of Tennessee’s top prosecutors

Advocates for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are calling on the Biden administration to withdraw the nomination for one of Tennessee’s top prosecutors.

Casey Arrowood is up for U.S. attorney in East Tennessee. But AAPI groups say the Senate to should pause the nomination until Arrowood has been investigated for a case he tried under the China Initiative — a Trump-era crack down on academics with ties to China.

They’ve focused on Arrowood’s role in the investigation of Anming Hu, a University of Tennessee Knoxville professor who the FBI suspected of being a spy. A judge ultimately threw out the case.

“The judge wrote 52 pages in a memorandum opinion just about how flawed and flimsy the government’s case was,” says Nashville lawyer Jing Geng. She’s one of hundreds of people who signed their names in opposition to Arrowood’s nomination.

Geng calls Hu’s case and others tried under the China Initiative “blatantly racial profiling.” She says criminal law requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“It’s a heightened standard over civil law because you’re putting people under the strains of prosecution, and potentially taking away life or liberty,” Geng says. “It doesn’t serve anyone when there’s a prosecution that is based on winning at all costs and not necessarily based on evidence.”

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Arrowood, through a Department of Justice spokesperson, declined to comment. The Biden administration did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the office of Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who has called for reinstating the China Initiative. The Tennessee senator serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on Arrowood’s nomination.

For his part, Hu says Biden’s staffers have reached out to him to listen to his story.

“But I ask them to take action,” Hu says. “If we don’t really learn the lessons, if we really not change, similar case(s) could happen, and will damage the long-term history of this country.”

Update: This story has been updated to note that Arrowood declined to comment.