On May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
On October 28, 2009, Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which included in it the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded federal hate crime laws to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.