Sonia Sotomayor should not disqualify her from serving on the Supreme Court. The American Bar Association gave her a unanimous "well qualified" assessment, its highest mark for professional qualification. Following the "Ricci" overruling, Rasmussen Reports and CNN/Opinion Research polls showed that the public was now sharply divided, largely along partisan and ideological lines, as to whether Sotomayor should be confirmed. Sotomayor's confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee began on July 13, 2009, during which she backed away from her "wise Latina" remark, declaring it "a rhetorical flourish that fell flat" and stating that "I do not believe that any ethnic, racial
Hispanic and Latino Americans be classified as European or White by American standards but not Latino by this definition. While the U.S. Census Bureau's definition of "Hispanic" is limited to Spanish-speaking Latin America, other government agencies have slightly different definitions of the term. The US Department of Transportation defines "Hispanic" as "persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race." This definition has been adopted by the Small Business Administration as well as by many federal, state, and municipal agencies. Unlike the Census Bureau's definition, this clearly includes people with origins