Story highlights Trump in recent days has escalated his attacks against U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel

Gonzales said the appearance of impropriety could be enough for him to reasonably request that Curiel recuse himself

Washington (CNN) The first Latino attorney general in U.S. history believes Donald Trump has a right to question whether a judge with Hispanic background who is presiding over a Trump University lawsuit is able to adjudicate the case unbiasedly.

Trump in recent days has escalated his attacks against U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who last week ordered parts of internal documents, including "playbooks" regarding running the enterprise, to be released as part of a lawsuit against Trump University. The documents were released in response to a request by The Washington Post.

Alberto Gonzales, who led the Justice Department under President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Saturday that Curiel's Mexican heritage shouldn't be enough to disqualify him from overseeing the case.

But, Gonzales said, Trump is entitled to a fair trial, and the appearance of impropriety could be enough for him to reasonably request that Curiel recuse himself. He cited Curiel's membership in the La Raza Lawyers Association's San Diego chapter -- although the lawyers group is unaffiliated with the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group that has opposed Trump, the billionaire "may be concerned that the lawyers' association or its members represent or support the other advocacy organization."

"These circumstances, while not necessarily conclusive, at least raise a legitimate question to be considered," Gonzales wrote. "Regardless of the way Trump has gone about raising his concerns over whether he's getting a fair trial, none of us should dismiss those concerns out of hand without carefully examining how a defendant in his position might perceive them — and we certainly should not dismiss them for partisan political reasons."

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