Ricardo H. Hinojosa is the chaiman of the United States Sentencing Commission.  He was born in Rio Grande City, Texas, graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1972, and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School three years later. From 1976 until 1983 he was an attorney with the Ewers and Toothaker law firm in McAllen, Texas, and was a partner at the time he became a judge. In 1983 he began serving on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, after being nominated by President Reagan, and has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law. In 2003 he became a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and in August 2004 he received a recess appointment as Chairman by George W. Bush, and confirmation by the Senate three months later. Hinojosa is a personal friend of the Bush family.