Incredibly, President Trump’s pending fraud case did not derail him during the general election, as so many Republicans had feared and argued during the primary process last year. And after the election, when he settled the class-action lawsuit with about 7,000 former students, it seemed he had almost miraculously made what seemed like a disqualifying issue disappear forever.
That’s not the whole story either. Before the election or the settlement, Trump had seemingly made matters much worse for himself when he argued — and then insisted when pressed — that the federal judge in the case was incapable of fairness because “he’s a Mexican.”
As Trump put it to CNN’s Jake Tapper, “He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico.” In my own view, it was the single most indefensible thing Trump said in an entire campaign filled with statements that were hard to defend. To say that someone can’t do his job because he is Mexican is, as Tapper put it in his question, “the definition of racism.” Trump disagreed, naturally.
But that “Mexican” judge (actually a native of Northern Indiana, three counties over from where I grew up) still remains very relevant now, because the case isn’t quite over yet.
One of the class-member plaintiffs, Sherri Simpson, refuses to go quietly. Having spent nearly $19,000 on a Trump University program that she calls “a scam,” she is now demanding that all plaintiffs be allowed to opt out of the settlement deal. This is something that happens not infrequently in such class-action cases, the New York Times reports, when a settlement proves unsatisfactory.
If the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, decides that Ms. Simpson and potentially others should have that chance, legal experts say it could disrupt the settlement because Mr. Trump and his lawyers saw the deal as a way to resolve all of the claims, once and for all, to avoid a trial and distractions to his presidency.
Simpson’s attorneys argue that the notice they received appears to imply that even those who failed to opt out of the class-action by the November 2015 deadline would have the opportunity to exclude themselves from the settlement. Specifically, it says, ” If you stay in, and the Plaintiffs obtain money or benefits, either as a result of the trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to obtain a share (or how to ask to be excluded from any settlement).”
However, the notice also states that “if you do nothing now, regardless of whether the Plaintiffs win or lose the trial, you will not be able to sue (by way of separate lawsuit) Trump University and Trump about the same legal claims that are the subject of these lawsuits. You will also be legally bound by all of the Orders and Judgments the Court makes in these class actions.”
Trump must now hope and pray that a “Mexican” judge chooses to resolve this apparent ambiguity in his favor.
