July 29, 2022
Sign the campaign to oppose Arrowood's nomination
The White House announced the nomination of Mr. Casey Arrowood to be US Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee on July 29, 2022. The Senate Judiciary Committee logged the nomination as PN2444 on August 1, 2022. Academics, elected officials, civil rights groups, and community organizations across the country have raised grave concerns about this nomination - It will further erode public trust in our judicial system and increase the chilling effect on U.S. science and technology.
Mr. Arrowood was the lead prosecutor of University of Tennessee Professor Anming Hu, an internationally-renown nanotechnology expert and the first academic to go to trial under the now-defunct “China Initiative.”
Court testimonies and documents show that Professor Hu was subject to a two-year Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) investigation started bya Google search, not a criminal predicate. Professor Hu was fired by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville based on misleading and false information provided by the government.
When the false allegation that Professor Hu spied for China could not be supported by facts and evidence, he was pressed to spy on China for the U.S. government. After Professor Hu refused, Mr. Arrowood mounted a wire fraud case against Professor Hu. The jury deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared.
On June 17, 2021, three members of the House Judiciary Committee, Reps. Ted Lieu, Mondaire Jones, and Pramila Jayapal, referred the case to the Inspector General at the Department of Justice for review out of concerns of alleged misconduct of the FBI in Professor Hu’s case.
Mr. Arrowood’s wrongful prosecution of Professor Hu betrayed the public trust and confidence we all place in our judicial system.
According to a media report, a member of the all-white jury entered the 2021 trial assuming that the government handled the case with honesty and integrity. At the end of the mistrial, she concluded publicly that it was “the most ridiculous case” and “if this is who is protecting America, we’ve got problems.”
Instead of reviewing his weak case and acting in the interests of justice, Mr. Arrowood pursued a retrial of Professor Hu.
In the order to acquit Professor Hu of all charges in the indictment, Judge Thomas Varlan ruled that the government's evidence, even if given in the light most favorable to the government, would be clearly insufficient for a rational jury to convict Professor Hu of the crimes alleged.
Despite the judge's ruling, the unjust prosecution forever changed the lives of Professor Hu and his family. To this day, Professor Hu describes that period as "the darkest time of [his] life" as he and his family endured financial instability, traumas, family separation, and a long battle for justice.
The nomination of Mr. Arrowood is an affront to the Asian American, immigrant, and scientific communities. It opens a new wound when we still need to heal from years of prosecution and targeting of Asian Americans and immigrants during and before the "China Initiative." Our communities continue to work towards justice and ensuring substantive reforms to end the targeting and profiling of Asian Americans and immigrants.
Mr. Arrowood demonstrated his poor judgment, wasted valuable taxpayers’ dollars, failed to uphold justice and fairness, and eroded public trust. His wrongful prosecution of Professor Hu, not once but twice, is deplorable and an embarrassment to our nation.
In an exclusive interview with Tennessee Lookout on August 11, 2022, Professor Hu called for President Joe Biden to withdraw the nomination of Mr. Arrowood. “My case was a case of wrongful prosecution, and I believe (if Arrowood is confirmed) similar things will happen again and will damage long term the U.S. (government’s) reputation,” Professor Hu said. “If you do something wrong, you should have consequences. Instead, (Arrowood) is getting rewarded. It is very unfair. I do not think this is a reasonable nomination.”
On August 20, 2022, Professor Hu and his family wrote to the White House requesting President Biden to rescind the nomination of Mr. Arrowood. Professor Hu cited four explanations for his objection:
As the leading prosecutor, Mr. Arrowood should have stopped this wrongful investigation and never brought this case forward for prosecution.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Arrowood himself did not understand the law that he was prosecuting.
This wrongful prosecution created a strong chilling effect among the Chinese American community.
This nomination has harmed the reputation of the U.S. government.
APA Justice, Asian American Scholar Forum, Tennessee Chinese American Alliance, and United Chinese Americans launched this nationwide campaign to support Professor Hu and oppose the nomination of Mr. Arrowood. We give voice to Asian Americans and immigrants, the scientific and academic community, and to the impacted persons and their families.
We call for the White House to withdraw the nomination, and the Senate Judiciary Committee to take no action on the nomination before a thporugh investigation and a hearing have been completed.
We will continue to collect organizational and individual co-signers until there is an end to the nomination of Mr. Arrowood. Please help spread the word if you have already signed on and fill out the form here if you have not yet done so: https://bit.ly/OpposeArrowoodNomination
Please help spread the word about this campaign widely. We also encourage organizations and individuals to send their own letters directly to the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Email contact@apajustice.org if you have any questions or comments.
Note: Organizers of the campaign retain the right to decide on the final co-signers to the letters.
Please sign on to the campaign here: https://bit.ly/OpposeArrowoodNomination
2022/11/10 Committee of 100: Committee of 100 Expresses Concerns Over Mr. Casey Arrowood Being Nominated to Serve as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. http://bit.ly/3EBDpEy
2022/11/06 Knox News: 'I want him voted down': Professor wrongly accused of spying fights prosecutor's promotion. https://bit.ly/3UDuYgZ
2022/09/06 Coalition letter to President Biden requesting the withdrawal of the nomination of Casey Arrowood. https://bit.ly/3KTWGTm
2022/09/06 Coalition letter to Senate Judiciary Committee requesting no action on the nomination of Casey Arrowood before thorough review. https://bit.ly/3KSy79l
2022/09/02 Department of Justice: Response to June 17, 2021, Request for Investigation. https://bit.ly/3rISqgJ
2022/08/31 Anming Hu letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee requesting rejection of Arrowood nomination. https://bit.ly/3RezeT6
2022/08/24 APA Justice Newsletter: Special Edition on the Campaign to Oppose the Nomination of Mr. Casey Arrowood. https://bit.ly/3ckMgPI
2022/08/22 Draft letter to President Biden to withdraw the nomination of Casey Arrowood. https://bit.ly/3T7yeRN
2022/08/20 Anming Hu letter to the White House requesting withdrawal of Arrowood nomination. https://bit.ly/3wizTum
2022/08/31 Tennessee Lookout: Asian American groups urge rejection of nominee for U.S. Attorney in Tennessee’s Eastern District. https://bit.ly/3CIVj7T
2022/08/11 Tennessee Lookout: Falsely accused University of Tennessee professor: Biden should rescind U.S. Attorney nomination. https://bit.ly/3C1YiYv
Academics, elected officials, and civil rights groups across the country are raising concerns about the nomination of Casey Arrowood to be US Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.