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My grandfather had been a well-known judge in Berlin.

My father was a Tuskegee Airmen captain in the Air Force and a very strong personality. He believed in fairness and ethics and living up to the commitments you make to others. He ultimately became a judge, and he would talk to me over and over about how important it is to be fair.

I was privileged to serve as a judge.

My father was an immigrant who literally walked across Europe to get out of Russia. He fought in World War I. He was wounded in action. My father was a great success even though he never had money. He was a very determined man, a great role model.

My father was a military judge, and my mother was a psychiatric social worker. My brother and sister and I were moved around constantly, in and outside the U.S., living in Germany for much of our teens.

I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences.

My father was a Jewish immigrant who settled in Argentina and was left to his own devices at the age of 15. My mother was a teacher, herself the daughter of a poor immigrant family.

Merely implying bias due to a judge's ethnic heritage is wrong as a matter of principle and legally illegitimate.

I would never criticize a federal judge, particularly if I had a court case in front of him, but you would certainly never, ever criticize them based on their ethnic background.

For the last decade, I've worked as a federal judge in a court that spans six Western states, serving about 20 percent of the continental United States and about 18 million people. The men and women I've worked with at every level in our circuit are an inspiration to me.