Legal Beat

"This is a group that has taken some very shocking positions with respect to terrorism," Sessions said.

But the only evidence Sessions offered was a 1990 incident when New York mayor David Dinkins called three Puerto Rican nationalists who shot five members of Congress in 1954 "assassins." As the New York Times reported at the time, Dinkins was responding to a report that some of the nationalists were supposed to appear alongside Nelson Mandela at a rally in Harlem.

In that June 1990 story, the New York Times quoted Ruben Franco, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, who suggested Dinkins' comments were insensitive. "He doesn't recognize that to many people in Puerto Rico, these are fighters for freedom and justice, for liberation, just as is Nelson Mandela, who himself advocated bearing arms.''

Franco's comment was also cited in a June 17 report by the conservative group, Judicial Watch, as evidence of "PRLDEF's radical agenda during Judge Sotomayor's tenure."

Perales said critics were distorting the history and record of the organization, which was founded in 1972 and modeled on the NAACP and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

"It is an effort to demonize us, malign us, and in that way suggest that Judge Sotomayor herself guilty of whatever is being said about us," Perales said.

Perales said LatinoJustice PRLDEF will provide documents related to Sotomayor's tenure as requested last week in a letter by Sessions and Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman of the Judiciary committee, but first needs further clarification about what might be relevant.

"The bottom line is we are pleased to comply and we will do it as quickly as possible," Perales said.