[On the desert:] The wind was a constant, and when you paid attention, it seemed like the earth's own breathing.

Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.

Since I have difficulty defining merit and what merit alone means - and in any context, whether it's judicial or otherwise - I accept that different experiences in and of itself, bring merit to the system.

I think that even someone who got into an institution through affirmative action could prove they were qualified by what they accomplished there.

I got a label because I was Hispanic and a woman and [therefore] I had to be liberal.

That's why we have appellate judges that are more than one judge because each of us, from our life experiences, will more easily see different perspectives argued by parties. But judges do consider all of the arguments of litigants. I have. Most of my opinions, if not all of them, explain to parties by the law requires what it does.

Pretending to be a princess is fun, but it is definitely not a career.