In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the first Hispanic woman and only third woman to be appointed to the court. The daughter of working-class Puerto Rican immigrants, Sotomayor grew up in public housing in New York. Having experienced firsthand the difficulties women and the Hispanic population faced in climbing the social, political, and judicial ladder, Sotomayor speaks in favor of being a force for change by combining her experiences with the foundation of U.S. law to create a more equal society.