[1] Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1935, Karlton received a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1958, at the age of 23.

[3] Karlton, along with Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Thelton Henderson, was a member of a special three-judge panel overseeing overcrowding in the California prison system.

On April 5, 2013, Judge Karlton ruled in a 68-page decision against Governor Brown that, "this court finds that ongoing constitutional violations remain in this action and the prospective relief ordered by this court remains necessary to remedy those violations.

They demanded that action be taken immediately, and that any laws that might prevent the early release of the inmates be ignored.

[6][7] During his criminal calendar on February 25, 2014, Judge Karlton announced that he would stop hearing cases at the end of August 2014.