Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump
(Photo: Flickr/Creative Commons)
Ali Mitib
Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump says Muslim judges may be biased against him due to his policy of temporarily banning Muslims from entering the US.
This allegation comes after the property tycoon labelled Judge Gonzalo P Curiel, a US District Judge, a “hater of Donald Trump” and of being biased due to a conflict of interests arising from Trump’s infamous border wall policy and the Judge’s Mexican heritage.
Judge Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana, and graduated from Indiana University Law School in 1979. He has been practicing Law since 1979. Curiel’s parents migrated from Mexico in the 1940s.
Judge Curiel was the presiding judge in a case concerning Trump University. This venture marketed seminars and mentorship packages that would cost participants up to $35,000. The venture promised to teach success by showing participants tricks of the real estate business from professors and professionals handpicked by Trump himself.
According to Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General, it was a “classic bait and switch scheme…a scam and not even a university”. The venture was structured in seminars held in hotel rooms taught by business professionals, of whom several have filed for bankruptcy in the past – like Donald Trump
Speaking on the venture, a former member of Trump’s sales staff said it was “a joke…it was a façade…it was just selling false hopes and lies”.
Trump has a past of accusing presiding judges of being biased and unfair. Between 2008 and 2010 Trump’s lawyers tried to remove two New York judges who oversaw lawsuits against him.
The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) described Trump’s latest anti-Muslims remarks as “un-American”.
CAIR’s Director of Government Affairs, Robert McCaw, told The Muslim News Trump’s, “questioning of whether or not a judge can remain impartial because of their race or religion is contrary to the foundational values our nation and legal system. The same line of logic would also disqualify potential jurors because of their race or religion. It’s absurd and lazy thinking.”
He added, “This latest episode of anti-Muslim and Hispanic rhetoric is just one of the many red flags that should have alerted Republican leadership and supporters of Trump not being a party uniter but a party divider.”
