In current day America, whoever controls the media pretty much controls the message. And the message dominating headlines this last week, thanks to not only Mainstream Media and liberal marketing press, such as MSNBC and CNN, but even Fox News, is Trump as racist for questioning the impartiality of the judge presiding over the Trump University case.
We’ve heard all the “smart people” tsk tsk Donald Trump for for raising questions about U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel. And yet, even Alberto R. Gonzales, who served as White House counsel and U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration, concedes that Trump has every right to voice his concerns.
Gonzales writes in an excellent WaPo piece:
An independent judiciary is extremely important. But that value is not the only one in play here. Equally important, if not more important from my perspective as a former judge and U.S. attorney general, is a litigant’s right to a fair trial. The protection of that right is a primary reason why our Constitution provides for an independent judiciary. If judges and the trials over which they preside are not perceived as being impartial, the public will quickly lose confidence in the rule of law upon which our nation is based. For this reason, ethics codes for judges — including the federal code of conduct governing Curiel — require not only that judges actually be impartial, but that they avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.” That appearance typically is measured from the standpoint of a reasonable litigant.
It is crucial to understand the real issue in this matter. I am not judging whether Curiel is actually biased against Trump. Only he knows the answer to that question. I am not saying that I would be concerned about him presiding over a case in which I was a litigant.
Gonzales goes on to say he would not, were he in Trump’s shoes, accuse Judge Curiel publicly, but he would vigorously look into the matter. He also concedes that, though the judge is not a member of the über-racist, Caucasion-hating National Council of La Raza, but rather La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, there are enough associations to “…raise a legitimate question to be considered.”
And something else — we should throw off our misconceptions that justices are sacrosanct. As John Biver writes in his insightful article, Trump and the La Raza Judge:
It’s big news that The Donald has publicly complained about the judge in his Trump University court case and he referred to the judge’s race. My question is — so what?
Why do people think judges are a royal priesthood, a holy nation and above reproach? It can only be due to the absence of a proper education.
The reason that so many people think that the American judiciary is somehow above the political fray is a mystery to me. Haven’t people read the U.S. Constitution? Haven’t they read what our founding fathers had to say about the judicial branch?
. . .
This isn’t about race — it’s about ideology. Based upon their experience, every social conservative should understand that. In the case at hand, the judge’s race is influencing his ideology. How can that be denied based upon the judge’s affiliations?
My friend, Dave Daubenmire, has been on the front lines of the culture war since at least the late 1990’s when the veteran coach of 35 years was sued by the ACLU for praying with his players. Heaven forbid a coach not throw chairs at his players (à la Knight) or abuse his players (à la Sandusky) but instead pray with his team.
Coach Daubenmire calls it as he sees it, no sugar-coating allowed. And here’s his take on the “Trump and the Judge” situation. And note, he mentions La Raza, inferring the National Council of La Raza. But he is entirely correct in his assumption that, should any minority raise the questions Donald Trump has raised, they would be afforded serious consideration.
Listen to Coach:
Listen, I hate to be like Rush Limbaugh, but sometimes I feel like I’m becoming a “truth detector.” I’m just trying to get you to understand how they’re manipulating us, the brainwashing that’s going on.
The big issue now is Trump and this federal judge Trump said was a Mexican and didn’t think he could get a fair trial from and yada yada yada. Calling him a racist.
Let me ask you a very simple question. Would a black man want to walk into a courtroom and where the judge was a member of the Ku Klux Klan? Would a Jewish person want to walk into a courtroom where the judge was a member of the Nazi party? …
Americans must be wiser than the crafty MSM that manipulates us. We must all hone our skills as critical thinkers and hold not just elected officials accountable, but also non-elected judges.
Re-read the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and the Mayflower Compact, and commit crucial sections to memory.
We are the caretakers of this great Republic and must wrest it back from the Progressives, the LGBT crowd, the secular humanists — all of whom seek to fundamentally transform our nation “conceived in Liberty” into a corrupt country, bent under the weight of Socialist tyranny.
So help us God.
Image credit: SavingOurFuture.com.