Nominating her, President Obama mentioned the extraordinary journey of Judge Sotomayor from modest backgrounds to top universities and now to the highest levels of judiciary.

Obama also said that her ascension to the top judicial post will be another step towards realising the American ideal of 'Equal justice under the law'.

Her nomination, meanwhile, has raised concerns among the Republican senators, who vowed to scrutinise her record and also her slant towards judicial activism.

The most important issue that is going to crop up during her confirmation is the role played by a judge's personal experience, sex and race in making judicial decisions.

During a lecture in 2001, Judge Sotomayor had said that her background played a role in making decisions, “our experiences as women and people of colour affect our decisions.”

Alluding to her statement, once made during a 2005 conference, where she said that policies were made in the Court of Appeals, the Republicans claimed that Judge Sotomayor could end up imposing her values while making decisions.

A legal activist said that Judge Sotomayor was liberal activist, who gave primacy to her own political agenda, while making judgements rather than the law as written.

Judge Sotomayor is not backing off from her position and claimed that she strives not to forget the impact of her decisions in real life.