Thread: Trump: Sotomayor wouldn't have to recuse herself on immigration cases

By NICK GASS 06/24/16 05:50 PM EDT

Donald Trump would not ask Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court's only Latina justice, to recuse herself if any of his immigration policies come to the court during his presidency, the presumptive Republican nominee said in portions of an interview posted Friday.

“Let me ask you this: If your, as president, any of your immigration policies came before the Supreme Court, would it be your wish that the court’s only Latina, Sonia Sotomayor, recuse herself?” NBC News' Lester Holt asked Trump on Thursday before he left for Scotland.

Trump responded, "No, it wouldn’t. I’d want people that can vote on anywhere. I want people without conflict, and you have to assume they don’t have a conflict.”

Holt followed up by saying he was asking because of Trump's assertion that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel would not be able to fairly preside over Trump University litigation because of his "Mexican heritage."

“Look, I have a case that I’m gonna win. I have thousands and thousands of people that are – they love it.

They love the course. And we’re gonna win the case, and that’s all there is to it," Trump replied.

Asked whether he wanted to walk back his comments on Curiel, or even apologize, Trump was firm.

“I don’t want to walk anything," Trump said. "I want to just say: We’re gonna win the case. It’s going to be after the election. Trump University, gonna be very successful. We’re going to win the case. That’s all there is to it. I think it’s going to be an easy victory because we have thousands of people that have approved the case so we’re gonna win the case.”

Holt also asked Trump about the Supreme Court's deadlocked 4-4 tie Thursday that effectively thwarted President Barack Obama's expansion of executive actions on immigration.

"Well I haven’t seen it. I just heard about it two seconds ago, so I do want to look at it. I want to study it. We’ll take a look at it. What was the vote?" Trump asked.

Holt explained that it was "essentially a tie, so it leaves in place the previous ruling."

"Had a feeling that might happen, right? On this one," Trump said. "I’m going to look at both opinions, and I’ll give it to you the next time."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...gration-224791

Sotomayor is different than the Judge. Sotomayor's parents are from Puerto Rico, a US territory whose citizens are statutory US citizens and have been since 1917. So Trump answered the question correctly. The question itself from Lester Hold was a stupid race-baiting question.