Santa Ana, CA - June 8, 2016 - The Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County was founded nearly 40 years ago to encourage and support Latino participation in the legal profession and judiciary. Many of our members are Latinos. Many are not. All of our members support and encourage outstanding Latino attorneys’ increased representation in the bar and on the bench of our great State and Country.

Whether from the left, right, or center, any candidate for the highest office in the executive branch of government should refrain from explicit attacks on members of the judiciary based on that jurist’s ethnicity.

“Donald Trump’s allegation that Judge Curiel is biased and should recuse himself solely on the basis of Judge Curiel’s Mexican heritage is a blatant attack on our judiciary and Latinos throughout this country.  Bigoted statements like this, regardless of the candidate making it, have no place in the election of the highest office in this great country,” said OCHBA President Lyo Figueroa.

The Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County denounces such accusation and statements like this, regardless of the candidate who makes such statement.  Accusations of bias arising solely from a Judge’s ancestry, whether Latino or not, go directly against the mission of the HBA and raise serious concerns in light of the importance of an independent judiciary.

Lyo Figueroa
President of the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County

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