Sotomayor: Gender pay gap among biggest issues facing our nation

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday said that pay inequality between men and women is one of the nation’s biggest issues.

Sotomayor, speaking at Brown University, said the challenges women face haven’t changed since she was growing up, The Associated Press reported.

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“Women doing the same work still earn less than men. You can’t fight the facts,” she said, according to the AP. “Pay equality is one of the biggest issues our nation faces.”

President Trump was not brought up during the event, which was attended by hundreds of students, the news agency reported. But Sotomayor was asked by one student about misinformation and political polarization.

“So many people start fighting about the facts, and the importance of the facts, as opposed to the importance of the principles that are motivating the discussion,” she said, according to the AP. “You got to get back to that before you can get to facts.”

The justice noted that compromise isn’t always reached in the Supreme Court but said she believes understanding the other side’s principles is an important step toward compromise.

Sotomayor was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Obama in 2009. She was the third woman appointed to the court and is the only Hispanic ever to serve as a justice.