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 populations. According to a 2011 study by the Pew Research Center, the majority (51%) of Hispanic and Latino Americans prefer to identify with their families' country of origin, while only 24% prefer the terms "Hispanic" or "Latino". While the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, "Hispanic" is a narrower term that only refers to persons of Spanish-speaking origin or ancestry, while "Latino" is more frequently used to refer generally to anyone of Latin American origin or ancestry, including Brazilians. "Hispanic" thus includes persons from Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin Americans but excludes Portuguese and Brazilians. Because Brazil's population of 191,000,000 is