While seated in padded armchairs on stage, Kagan told UT Law Dean Doug Blaze that being a woman in the courtroom comes with some difficulties, but it also comes with opportunities.

“Every woman knows there are some difficulties one confronts that a man might not have to, but nowhere near what my predecessors did,” she said. “And to tell you the truth, there were also things I got because I was a woman. I’m not sure I’d be sitting here, I’m not sure I would have been President (Barack) Obama’s nominee if I were not a woman and if he wasn’t as committed as he was to ensuring there was diversity on the Supreme Court.”