We appreciate your time today. Truly, somebody who has the experience you have within this field is an eminent resource for us.
I want to start by thanking you for the lifetime of dedication you have provided our country, most recently by leading the investigation into the Air India bombing. You've done great work for our country. I know that everybody around this table appreciates that.
To go on to this issue, I have to admit that I'm not a lawyer, but it does bring some compelling thoughts to my mind. I don't understand how we can say that somebody like Justice Rothstein or you shouldn't have been appointed, even though you may have been the most competent legal mind, simply because you didn't have the requirement of being functionally bilingual. I think it's important that we recognize the words “functionally bilingual”. I'll get to that in a second.
We've had some litigants here that.... I'd like to give you a chance to reiterate your position that you feel the test of competency should be the most important test for a judge, and competency within the law and the legal field, not competency within any language barriers.