This lecture was delivered by Sonia Sotomayor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2001. At the time, Sotomayor was an appeals court judge. Later, she was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2009, becoming the first person of Hispanic descent appointed to the Supreme Court. Born in New York and the daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Justice Sotomayor grew up understanding the hypocrisy of America’s “melting pot” ideology: the U.S. claims to take pride in its ethnic diversity but ignores the problems underrepresented groups face, especially in law and government positions. Calling out the low number of women and people of color who occupy these positions, Sotomayor further asserts that so few representatives speaking for such a broad swath of society cannot necessarily represent all members of these underrepresented groups. For Sotomayor, her experiences as a Latina influence how she approaches issues and topics, which is valuable to overseeing cases.