Sonia Sotomayor U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Her nomination was slowed by the Republican majority in the United States Senate, but she was eventually confirmed in 1998. On the Second Circuit, Sotomayor heard appeals in more than 3,000 cases and wrote about 380 opinions. Sotomayor has taught at the New York University School of Law and Columbia Law School. In May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor to the Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice David Souter. Her nomination was confirmed by the Senate in August 2009 by a vote of 68–31. While on the court, Sotomayor has
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