It's not the heart that compels conclusions in cases, it's the law.

When you have strong views about how to approach thinking about the law, then that view is going to lead to certain results in certain situations. And so people seem to think this predictability is based on some kind of partisan political view. But it's not.

I don't believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it.

A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.

Reaching a conclusion has to start with what the parties are arguing, but examining in all situations carefully the facts as they prove them or not prove them, the record as they create it, and then making a decision that is limited to what the law says on the facts before the judge.

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.

The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.