Sonia Sotomayor a Supreme Court seat. New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote a joint letter to Obama urging him to appoint Sotomayor, or alternatively Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, to the Supreme Court if a vacancy should arise during his term.<ref name="Schumer/Gillibrand"></ref> The White House first contacted Sotomayor on April 27, 2009, about the possibility of her nomination. On April 30, 2009, Justice David Souter's retirement plans leaked to the media, and Sotomayor received early attention as a possible nominee for Souter's seat to be vacated in June 2009. On May 25, Obama informed Sotomayor of his choice; she later
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