Sonia Sotomayor confirmation to the appeals court would put Sotomayor in a better position for a possible Supreme Court nomination (despite there being no vacancy at the time nor any indication the Clinton administration was considering nominating her or any Hispanic). Therefore, the Republican majority decided to slow her confirmation. Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh weighed in that Sotomayor was an ultraliberal who was on a "rocket ship" to the highest court. During her September 1997 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor parried strong questioning from some Republican members about mandatory sentencing, gay rights, and her level of respect for Supreme Court
Hispanic–Latino naming dispute Hispanic–Latino naming dispute The Hispanic–Latino naming dispute is an ongoing disagreement over the use of the ethnonyms "Hispanic" and "Latino" to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States of America who are of Latin American or Spanish origin—that is, Latino or Hispanic Americans. The usage of both terms has changed to adapt to a wide range of geographical and historical influences. The term "Hispanic" was used first; later, some Hispanics in the western United States came to prefer the term "Latino". The Census does not classify persons of Portuguese or Brazilian descent as Hispanic, as those are Portuguese-speaking