BILL O'REILLY (HOST): Although appointed by Barack Obama, Judge Curiel is no raging liberal. In fact, he is a tough guy. At one point a Mexican drug cartel threatened to assassinate him because of his anti-drug trafficking stance. However, the judge belongs to a group called San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, which does advocacy work on behalf of Latinos. It's not associated with the radical La Raza group, but confusion is understandable.
Because of that, Mr. Trump apparently believes the judge may be biased against him, as it is well-known the candidate has taken a strong stand against illegal immigration, include building a border wall.
Summing up, the Trump U. case is certainly political to some extent, and it's a very high profile situation. Because of that, Talking Points believes the judge should recuse himself. Not because he did anything wrong, he didn't, but to eliminate any doubt as to the motivation in court rulings.
There are plenty of federal judges that could immediately step in. It is valid that some may see any recusal as caving to intimidation. But stark justice in a case this important, trumps, pardon the pun, any theoretical argument.
