Sonia Sotomayor supported the informal liberal bloc of justices when they divide along the commonly perceived ideological lines. During her tenure on the Supreme Court, Sotomayor has been identified with concern for the rights of defendants, calls for reform of the criminal justice system, and making impassioned dissents on issues of race, gender and ethnic identity, including "Schuette v. BAMN," "Utah v. Strieff", and "Trump v. Hawaii". Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born in the New York City borough of The Bronx. Her father was Juan Sotomayor (born c. 1921), from the area of Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and her mother was
Hispanic and Latino Americans in Portuguese-speaking countries. Preference of use between the terms among Hispanics and Latinos in the United States often depends on where users of the respective terms reside. Those in the Eastern United States tend to prefer the term "Hispanic," whereas those in the West tend to prefer "Latino". Both terms refer to ethnicity, as a person of Latino or Hispanic origin can be of any race. In Spanish, "Latina" is used for persons of feminine gender; "Latino" is used for those of masculine gender, or by default. For example, a group of mixed or unknown gender would be referred to