Rivas-Molloy grew up on the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso and became a U.S. citizen while she was in law school.
Born in Mexico and raised in the El Paso-Juarez area, Rivas-Molloy put herself through the University of Houston Law Center, graduating magna cum laude, then spent 20 years as a business litigator at major law firms before winning her seat on the First Court of Appeals in 2020. She's the third Latina ever elected to that court and is now running for a second term.
Judges aren't allowed to take sides on these values — it's against judicial ethics rules. The best clue to how a judge thinks is the party they run with.