Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump is involved in a civil case of fraud concerning the so called Trump University. The trial will be heard under Judge Gonzalo Curiel in Federal District Court November 2016.
As Trump was poised to begin his general election campaign, Trump kept bringing up this pending litigation, citing that Judge Curiel was MEXICAN (despite the inconvenient truth that the judge was born in INDIANA and had a history as a federal prosecutor of going after the Mexican drug cartels).
In a follow-interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on State of the Nation, Trump continually claimed that Curiel was Mexican and could not be impartial because Trump claims that he want to build a wall to prevent illegal immigration.
Trump subsequently questioned whether a Muslim judge could hear matters about "The Donald". As this judicial bias controversy was roiling, Trump Spokeswoman Katrina Pierson also implied that women judges may be biased too
Thus Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was among the first Republican to note the inappropriateness of Trump's judicial jibes.
Well, if Trump feels that Judge Curiel is not impartial, then why not make a legal motion for the Judge to recuse. For that matter, why did Trump's legal staff (since he always hires the best) allow Curiel to be transferred to the case in the first place.
Normally, when there is a motion for a judge to be withdrawn, there must be concrete proof of bias. To the public, Trump just smears the judge as being "Mexican" (which is incorrect). If Trump's attorney file a motion on such racial grounds, there is standing case law that will immediately be rejected and the attorneys may be sanctioned.
But the Paralepsis Politician may calculate that it is better to smear in the court of public opinion, in which judicial ethics restrain Judge Curiel from directly defending himself. Trump does have a history of filing specious libel suits, which have little legal merit but sufficiently sully the target.
Trump certainly used the same strategy in besmirching the reputation of Senator Cruz regarding his eligibility to run for President in 2016. Trump kept repeating that Cruz was not a natural born citizen, hence was ineligible to become President Even though Trump was one of the few individuals who had standing to successfully file the case, Trump was content to impugn Cruz in the court of public opinion without doing anything of legal consequence. Once Trump had eliminated Cruz as being a threat, all the vitriol was considered inconsequential.
No wonder Senator Cruz was not willing to carry Trump's water on this judicial jibe which was replete with racism.
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