The highly-demanded wall may have just hit a snag.
US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom President Trump accused of being biased in handling the Trump University case during the 2016 election, will hear a case on Friday to decide whether the president’s proposed wall along the southern border can get waivers for environmental laws.
The proposed wall would need to receive waivers in order to cover certain unfenced areas currently protected by environmental laws, The Hill reported.
If Curiel rules against President Trump, the administration’s effort to secure the border between the US and Mexico could come to a halt.
Curiel, an Indiana native who was nominated to the federal bench by Barack Obama in 2011, was criticized by the president in 2016 for certifying class-action lawsuits that claimed Trump University was fraudulent.
The judge allowed the lawsuits to stand even after the primary plaintiff in the first withdrew. At the time, then-candidate Trump said of Curiel, “I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He’s a hater.”
The New York real estate mogul also claimed Gonzalo had a conflict of interest because his “Mexican” heritage put him at odds with the proposed border wall.
Curiel is a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association and the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association.
Will the California-based judge once again be a thorn in President Trump’s side?
