Although appointed by Barack Obama, Judge Curiel is no raging liberal. In fact, he’s 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 believes the judge may be biased against him, as it is well known that the candidate has taken a strong stand against illegal immigration, including building a border wall.

Summing up, the Trump U. case is certainly political to some extent and a very high-profile situation. Because of that, Talking Points believes the judge should recuse himself not because he did anything wrong — he did not — but to eliminate any doubt as to motivation in rulings.

There are plenty of federal judges that could step in. It is valid that some may see any recusal as caving to intimidation, but stark justice at this level trumps (pardon the pun) any theoretical argument.