Trump just got awful news about his wall, and it involves the Mexican-American judge he attacked

The federal judge who oversaw the Trump University trial which cost the Trump 25 million dollars to settle racketeering and inter-state fraud claims is about to hear arguments on a key case that could determine the fate of the President’s beloved border wall.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel is not only a natural born US citizen and Indiana-native but he happens to have an uncommonly moving story in his service of the law. Naturally, Donald Trump chose to sling racial slurs at the judge over his parents being immigrants of Mexican origin, just because he presided over the Trump U case.

In case you’ve forgotten, Trump blended his wall obsession right into his racist tirade against the judge. Ironically, Curiel will now preside over the fate of Trump’s wall obsession. The Post reports:

It is yet another showdown in federal court over Trump’s immigration policies. The lawsuit also brings Curiel, whose court is in San Diego, back into the national spotlight on a case about a topic that is nearly as synonymous with the president as his defunct university.

Perhaps most jarring was Trump’s continued use of Curiel’s ethnicity to attack the federal judge’s impartiality. Trump falsely asserted that Curiel was a “Mexican,” — Curiel was born in Indiana — and other times said that he was “Hispanic” and “Spanish,” seemingly as an attempt to argue that the judge was biased because of Trump’s sharply conservative immigration ideas, including of course, the wall proposal.

“Look, he’s proud of his heritage, okay? I’m building a wall,” Trump said of Curiel in June 2016 to CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico.

Trump made those remarks while the Judge’s key ruling in his Trump University fraud trial was pending, a ruling that ultimately convinced the President-elect to settle the case in favor of plaintiffs. But he never publicly complained about that ruling or appealed it, or made further racist remarks about Judge Curiel.

Now, border wall opponents are looking to use the entire process to box in the federal government to the narrowest definition of how they may use existing permissions from Congress, granted in the Bush-era. The non-profit Center for Biological Diversity and the state of California are both plaintiffs. McClatchyDC reports:

In a brief filed in the case, the Center for Biological Diversity argues that Congress did not intend to give “unchecked license for DHS to waive laws for any border project, anywhere on any border (northern or southern), at any time from now to eternity.”

In its brief, California argues that Congress originally authorized environmental waivers to target border sections with “high illegal entry” into the country, and that the San Diego and El Centro areas no longer meet that definition. California also argues that border wall construction could do “irreparable harm” to the state’s wildlife and habitat.

America’s rule of law depends on judges like Judge Gonzalo Curiel impartially and wisely meting out equal justice to all.

However, Donald Trump sees the rule of law as little more than a speed bump in his way in general and particular he has been desperate to build a wall for political reasons, so desperate he saddled San Diego taxpayers with a 2.6 million dollar bill just to guard his silly prototype wall segments.

Considering the above, it shouldn’t take long for the President to send a barrage of incendiary, racist Twitter posts, now that Judge Curiel is once again presiding over his fate.

Grant Stern

Editor at Large

is the Executive Editor of Occupy Democrats and published author. His new Meet the Candidates 2020 book series is distributed by Simon and Schuster. He's also a mortgage broker, community activist and radio personality in Miami, Florida., as well as the producer of the Dworkin Report podcast. Grant is also an occasional contributor to Raw Story, Alternet, and the DC Report, an unpaid senior advisor to the Democratic Coalition, and a Director of Sunshine Agenda Inc. a government transparency nonprofit organization. Get all of his stories sent directly to your inbox here: