(CNN) Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday said having four women on the Supreme Court -- the first time the high court has had so many female justices -- has had an impact on the "quality of the conversation."
The increased share of women on the bench makes the conversation less adversarial and more collegial, she added.
"Because we are women, we don't all think the same. We don't all work the same," Sotomayor said at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation in April made her the sixth woman on the bench's history. Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett join Jackson and Sotomayor as the four women who are currently serving.
"Ketanji Brown Jackson has just joined us. I can't speak to what those changes will be. But I expect there will be some," Sotomayor said.
Kagan similarly emphasized how important it was to have four women on the Supreme Court in a speech Friday at the University of Pennsylvania.
When it comes to the actual reasoning on the bench, Kagan said "being a woman doesn't have all that much to do with it," acknowledging that she and Barrett "agree on some things and disagree on others."
But, she said it does make a difference for the audience to look up at the court to see "women's faces and voices coming from all different directions." Kagan added that "none of us are shrinking violets."
During Sotomayor's conversation Thursday, where she answered questions asked by retired judge Ann Claire Williams and students in the audience, Sotomayor, a liberal, also used warm words to describe her relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the court's staunchest conservatives.
"I have disagreed more with him than with any other justice, which means we don't come together on many cases," she acknowledged.
But, Sotomayor said, she has seen Thomas care about people through the time she has spent with him.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson poses for a portrait in her office in Washington, DC, in February 2022.
Jackson poses for a high school yearbook photo in 1985. She attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School.
Jackson poses for a high school yearbook photo in 1988, when she was class president.
Jackson and Stephen Rosenthal, high school seniors, are pictured as "Hall of Fame" members in their 1988 yearbook. "I want to go into law and eventually have a judicial appointment," Jackson said in the yearbook.
Jackson was a member of the debate team at Miami Palmetto Senior High School before earning both her undergraduate degree and law degree at Harvard.
Jackson's yearbook photo at Harvard in 1992.
Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer, left, administers the oath of office to US District Court judge Jackson in May 2013. Jackson's husband, Patrick Jackson, is holding the Bible.
From left, Judges Sri Srinivasan, David Tatel and Jackson walk into a ceremonial courtroom in 2017 during a high school mock trial in Washington, DC.
Jackson listens to arguments as local high school students observe a reenactment of a landmark Supreme Court case in 2019 at the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.
Jackson, center, talks with local high school students who have come to observe a reenactment of a landmark Supreme Court in 2019. Also on the bench with her are Srinivasan, far left, and Tatel.
Jackson, left, and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi are sworn in during their Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, in April 2021. Jackson was nominated to be US Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit and Jackson-Akiwumi was nominated to be US Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit.
Jackson smiles as her husband, Patrick, and daughter, Leila, listen during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in April 2021.
Jackson is sworn in by Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals Sri Srinivasan in 2021. She is with her husband, Patrick.
Jackson works in her office in Washington, DC, in January 2022.
Jackson poses for a portrait in her office in Washington, DC, in February 2022.
Jackson speaks at the White House after President Joe Biden announced her as his nominee to the Supreme Court on February 25, 2022.
Jackson meets with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as she begins her confirmation process on Capitol Hill in March 2022.
Jackson arrives for a meeting on Capitol Hill as she continued to meet with senators ahead of her confirmation hearings.
Jackson is sworn in prior to
her confirmation hearings in March 2022. Throughout her hearings, Jackson defended her experience and credentials as she faced criticisms from Republican senators on her judicial philosophy and legal record.
Biden congratulates Jackson during her confirmation vote in April 2022.
They watched the Senate vote from the Roosevelt Room in the White House.
Jackson reacts while speaking at a White House ceremony a day after her confirmation. During
an emotional address, she spoke of the responsibility she will have as the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. She also paid homage to those who paved the path for her along the way. "No one does this on their own," she said. "The path was cleared for me so that I might rise to this occasion."
Justice Stephen Breyer administers the Judicial Oath to Jackson as her husband, Patrick, holds the Bible in June 2022.
Jackson poses with other members of the Supreme Court as a
formal investiture ceremony was held in September 2022. From left are Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Jackson, Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh.
Jackson and Roberts walk outside the Supreme Court, where they posed for photos after her investiture ceremony.
"I can tell you that I spend time with him, understanding that he is one of the few justices who knows practically everybody in our building. He knows their name, he knows the things about their life, what their family is suffering. He'll tell me, 'You know that that person's wife is sick right now, or that person's child is having difficulty.'"
Sotomayor said she tries to be as courteous as Thomas is, but "he does it better."
"I try to find the good in everybody. Because if I can treat them as people with good things inside of me, they can feel it. They can feel that there are things inside them that I value. And they're more willing to talk to me."
Sotomayor explained how she can be fond of Thomas' humanity but strongly disagree with him on legal matters.
"He sees those legal issues much differently than I do. I tell people, you know, Clarence believes -- just like him, because he grew up very, very poor -- that everyone is capable of picking themselves up by their bootstraps. I understand that some people can't reach their bootstraps. That's a fundamental difference in how we view what the law can or should or does do for people But I can appreciate him."
To that point, Sotomayor urged students not to give up on issues they care about.
"If you feel disenfranchised and let others fight for the things they think are right and you're not willing to get up and fight for the things you think are right, you're just giving it to them," she said. "You are just walking away and not giving yourselves or the world a chance to get better. And I just won't do that. You know, I just won't."