Sonia Sotomayor doesn't want the public to forget the tough background she came from...one, it's believed, has shaped the decisions she's made as a federal court judge.

"It's just another obstacle that has divided the nation," says Rob Anderson, Assistant Professor of History at West Virginia University at Parkersburg, "and been an issue in the past, is certainly not an issue any more."

But conservatives are already questioning her judicial decisions, as well as her qualifications to be on the high court.

And while there's a large Democratic majority in the Senate, including newly-converted Arlen Specter, professor Anderson says doesn't mean an easy confirmation process. and he says the questions might include her ability to be a consensus-builder.

"Based on comments from people who worked around her, she, at times, can be a very tough person to reach a consensus with," he says. "And when you have a consensus-building body like the Supreme Court, that can be a very big issue."

President Obama hopes Sotomayor can be confirmed in time for the beginning of the court's new session in october.

Sotomayor would replace liberal justice David Souter, thereby maintaining the court's conservative-liberal divide.