Merrick Garland gets emotional talking about how his family being refugees inspired him to public service

Judge Merrick Garland's attorney general hearing before the Judicial Committee Monday took a turn when Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke about his confidence in the judge and that he thinks he'd make a great leader.

"I would like to end with this question and then my time is up," Booker began. "You've talked to me a lot about your thoughts about this and I've been really inspired. But it gets back to me — to your conviction in this issue, to go down, at a time that our nation needs it, as one of the great leaders when it comes to dealing with the daily, unconscionable injustices faced by some Americans and not others at the hands of law enforcement. One thing you said to me privately motivated me to believe you. I'm wondering if you can answer the question about your motivation and maybe some of your own family history in confronting hate and discrimination in American history."

"Yes, Senator. I come from a family," Garland said before pausing. "Where my grandparents fled anti-Semitism and persecution."

Garland's grandparents left the Pale of Settlement within the Russian Empire in the early 20th century, he explained in his Supreme Court acceptance speech in 2016.

"The country took us in, and protected us," Garland continued, visibly and audibly emotional. "I feel an obligation to the country to pay back and this is the highest best use of my own set of skills to pay back. I want very much to be the kind of attorney general that you're saying I could become. I'll do my best to try to be that attorney general."

See the touching moment below:

Touching moment with Merrick Garlandwww.youtube.com