What goes around, comes around. Judge Gonzalo Curiel — attacked for his Mexican heritage by then-candidate Donald Trump during the presidential campaign — has been assigned to oversee the lawsuit brought on behalf of Juan Manuel Montes, a Dreamer recently deported to Mexico by immigration officials despite having valid DACA protection:
[Curiel’s] the judge who oversaw a lawsuit involving Trump University who Trump accused of being biased because of his "Mexican heritage." Curiel, who was born in Indiana, approved a $25 million settlement between Trump and students who claimed they overpaid for real estate seminars. Trump didn't admit any wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement.
Curiel's assignment to the case was completely coincidental, according to rules for the Southern District of California. Kari Hong, an assistant professor at Boston College Law School who used to be an attorney in California, said judges are selected based on a rotating schedule. The court sets up a list of available judges and they are assigned each case as they come in.
Professor Hong said that judges “regularly recuse themselves from cases if there is a conflict of interest,” but that “it's highly unlikely Curiel would recuse himself based solely on the derogatory comments Trump made about him.” After all, it was Trump who was launched the indefensible, racist attacks, not the other way around.
Folks may remember Trump’s claim that Judge Curiel was unfit to hear the Trump University case because “he’s a Mexican” and “I want to build a wall,” which eventually led Paul Ryan to calling it the “textbook definition of a racist comment.” But then Ryan ended up voting for him anyway. Profile in courage, that one.
Anyway, don’t be shocked if Judge Curiel’s involvement in Juan’s case leads to another racist rant from Trump, maybe even from the presidential Twitter account at three in the morning. And don’t be surprised if that weasel with a gavel in the House stands by him again too.