Many people have been positive influences in my life. My parents, whom I mentioned, were the most important, but many of my teachers were also a big help to me.

After law school, I had the opportunity to clerk for a tremendous judge, Leonard I. Garth, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, the court to which I was appointed in 1990.

If you want know what sort of a justice I would make, then look at what sort of a judge I have been.

Part of me wanted to get a graduate degree in political science. Had I done that, I suppose I would have become a college professor.

If settled means that it cant be re-examined, thats one thing. If settled means that it is a precedent that is entitled to respect then it is a precedent that is protected.

My mother is a first generation American. Her father worked in the Roebling Steel Mill in Trenton, New Jersey.And yet my mother became the first person in her family to get a college degree.

In an era where the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture and is spying on American citizens, I find Judge [Samuel] Alito's support for an all-powerful executive branch to be genuinely troubling.