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Hispanic Rights Group at Center of Sotomayor Fight
newsmax.coim ^ | July 11, 2009 | staff

Posted on 07/11/2009 8:13:46 AM PDT by kellynla

NEW YORK -- Cesar Perales has fought his share of critics over the years, in legal battles for minorities denied jobs, bilingual classes in schools and more Latino police officers.

But none of those efforts compares with the tempest his Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund has stirred because of the dozen years that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor served as one of its board members.

Conservatives have called the group's stances against capital punishment and for abortion rights, as well as its advocacy of affirmative action in worker discrimination cases, "extreme" and "shocking." Some have suggested Sotomayor's longtime association with the group is an indication that she is biased and would be unable to render impartial decisions as a Supreme Court justice.

The critiques leading up to next week's Senate hearings on Sotomayor's confirmation have stunned Perales, who calls them an attempt to derail her nomination by over-politicizing the work of his legal defense fund.

"You have a reputable group that has stood up for the civil rights of Latinos for 37 years," said Perales, the group's president. "To suddenly be accused of being something bad, and that anyone associated with it should not be allowed to serve on the Supreme Court, to me is shocking."

Perales founded the fund, now known as LatinoJustice PRLDEF, in a Manhattan office building in 1972, He modeled it after one of the most high-profile civil rights organizations in the country, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The group points to suits like Aspira vs. New York City Board of Education as among its biggest accomplishments, forcing city schools to implement bilingual education for non-English speaking students.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: hispanics; racism; sotomayor; supreme
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Has anyone in Congress questioned Sotomayor's La Raza membership?
1 posted on 07/11/2009 8:13:46 AM PDT by kellynla
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Sonia Sotomayor

"In addition to her work on the bench, Judge Sotomayor is an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York Women’s Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage, and the National Council of La Raza."
American Bar Association
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/hispanic_s.html
2 posted on 07/11/2009 8:18:09 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: kellynla

The group points to suits like Aspira vs. New York City Board of Education as among its biggest accomplishments, forcing city schools to implement bilingual education for non-English speaking students.

Some accomplishment, depriving students of the ability to
speak competent English.


3 posted on 07/11/2009 8:21:36 AM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: kellynla

Go back to your third world ancestral homeland - even if you were born here.


4 posted on 07/11/2009 8:23:03 AM PDT by GOPGuide
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To: GOPGuide

Sick of this. We must be the only country on EARTH that allows this stuff to operate openly. If not for this ridiculous taxpayer funded albatross we would be buzzing along with no problems.


5 posted on 07/11/2009 8:25:46 AM PDT by Niuhuru (The internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: kellynla

If her work was so noble then why do they hide it?

I would vote ‘no’ purely on information purposefully withheld.


6 posted on 07/11/2009 8:26:07 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus (Light from Light)
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To: kellynla

By Martin Luther King Jr’s definition, Soto my-or is a racist.


7 posted on 07/11/2009 8:36:48 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: kellynla
Soto identifies herself as Puerto Rican first, even though she was born in the USA. There is nothing in the US Constitution that compels American citizens to seat a USSC justice based on ethnicity.

Sotomayor's secret files: What don't the Democrats want us to see?
Washington Times | Friday, July 10, 2009 | Editorial
FR Posted by JohnRLott

We wonder what Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has to hide. Her confirmation hearing starts Monday, but the White House refuses to turn over boxes of documents for review about her past.

Republican senators requested board meeting minutes of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, where Ms. Sotomayor served on the board of directors from 1980-1992. White House Counsel Greg Craig contends that all documents deemed "responsive" already were sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Contrary to White House dodging, these board meetings may be important in evaluating Ms. Sotomayor's legal and policy reasoning because the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund was involved in a wide range of controversial legal cases.

For instance, the fund fought to abolish the death penalty. It pushed discrimination cases very similar to the New Haven firefighter case in which Ms. Sotomayor's quota reasoning was unanimously quashed by the Supreme Court. The organization publicly defended members of a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group, . . . . (Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...

====================================

Sotomayor served on the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund's board of directors from 1980-1992. The organization publicly defended members of a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group---the FALN.

Did Soto have anything to do with Pres Clinton pardoning jailed members of the FALN----violent Puerto Rican terrorists who bombed US installations? Pardoned----so that then-Senate candidate Hillary could harvest the NY latino vote.

===============================

Call 202-225-3121 (Congress switchboard). Every senator should get 10-15,000 calls from Americans. Even with Dems in control, that many calls could make a difference.

MESSAGE TO SENATORS: Americans are sending the word across the land: "Sotomayor's rulings shows she would make policy through the court. The US Constitution precludes judges from making laws. It is understandable that Americans are apprehensive: Sotomayor and her crowd are colluding to exert raw power over the majority---to turn the US into a failed Third World satrap. These racialists do not understand a sophisticated superpower----a democracy governed by the rule of law, based on three co-equal branches of government." END MESSAGE Any Senator who votes to confirm Sotomayor risks his/her reelction chances.

8 posted on 07/11/2009 8:50:33 AM PDT by Liz (When people fear govt, we have tyranny; when govt fears the people, we have freedom.)
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To: kellynla
It's funny that they did not stand up for Bushes Spanish nominee and neither did the NAACP stand up for the only black on the USSC. which tells me that both of these groups are truly raciest.
9 posted on 07/11/2009 6:36:16 PM PDT by guitarplayer1953
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To: kellynla

There is a Yahoo Poll still running re the La Raza Racist Female wanting to be a Supreme:

http://js.polls.yahoo.com/quiz/quiziframe.php?poll_id=46856

Do you want Sotomayor to be confirmed? Results
Q. In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released just before the start of the Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation hearings, 47 percent of people questioned would like to see the Senate vote in favor, with 40 percent opposed and 13 percent unsure.

Where do you stand? Do you want Sotomayor to be confirmed?

Yes. Sotomayor would be a strong addition to the court. 28%

No. Sotomayor would be a detrimental addition to the court. 70%

Not sure/No opinion. 2%

85708 votes

Please to the Yahoo Link below to vote:

http://js.polls.yahoo.com/quiz/quiziframe.php?poll_id=46856


10 posted on 07/12/2009 6:30:47 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (Does Zer0 have any friends, who are not criminals, foreign/domestic terrorists, or tax cheats?)
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To: spectre; MeekOneGOP; Fred Nerks; TigersEye; floriduh voter; MHGinTN; snippy_about_it; ovrtaxt; ...

Sotomayer is connected with a legal group that helps terrorists. Any surprise? What else should we expect from the terrorism party?

Sotomayor held leadership roles on the legal defense fund’s board from 1980 to 1992 [LatinoJustice PRLDEF]

“This is a group that has taken some very shocking positions with respect to terrorism,” Sessions said, citing the legal defense fund’s defense in 1990 of Puerto Rican nationalists who 36 years earlier had wounded five lawmakers during an attack on the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sessions’ Senate aides also raised concerns about the legal defense fund’s ties with the community activist group ACORN, an organization embroiled on voter registration disputes with Republicans.

Perales said his group and ACORN were associated in one lawsuit that dealt with low-income tenants, an area of interest for both organizations.

“We’re not ashamed of that. If we’re going to be involved in helping poor people, we’re obviously going to have contact” with other groups that work in that area, he said.


11 posted on 07/12/2009 9:36:31 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Ayers unimportant? What about Robert KKK Byrd or FALN pardons? DNC -- the terrorism party.)
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March

Over the next week, we will be bombarded by the enemedia with reasons why Sessions and the GOP are racist bastards ... and nothing will be offered that exposes the Sotomayor and DNC racism so easily uncovered!


12 posted on 07/12/2009 9:59:42 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: Liz

“Any Senator who votes to confirm Sotomayor risks his/her reelection chances.” You might want to change that to ‘any Republican Senator who votes to confirm’ this racist Puerto Rican shill ... you know it will not even register with a democrat voter.


13 posted on 07/12/2009 10:04:41 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN

The New Media is hammering cracks in the wall. They might win this battle, but the war? That’s not so certain. BRB.


14 posted on 07/12/2009 10:06:12 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Ayers unimportant? What about Robert KKK Byrd or FALN pardons? DNC -- the terrorism party.)
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To: MHGinTN; MeekOneGOP; Impy; TigersEye; floriduh voter

Sotomayor is now exposed as a gun grabber:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2290931/posts

No surprise to us:

“It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” —explaining his troubles winning over some working-class voters


15 posted on 07/12/2009 10:09:16 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Ayers unimportant? What about Robert KKK Byrd or FALN pardons? DNC -- the terrorism party.)
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To: guitarplayer1953

Right on, guitarplayer! Any ‘quick fix’ to paint us as racits will backfire. Let’s also remember the racist group: LaRaza. “To the [hispanic] Race, Everything. To all others, nothing.” Isn’t she a member?

And then there’s Robert KKK Byrd. They are going to paint US as racist? Only for anti-conservatives who don’t mind economic downturns. What percentage of the vote is that?


16 posted on 07/12/2009 10:13:45 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Ayers unimportant? What about Robert KKK Byrd or FALN pardons? DNC -- the terrorism party.)
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To: kellynla

From Judicial Watch:

Washington, DC — June 17, 2009

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released a new special report on Supreme Court Nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor and her connection to the leftist Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF). Sotomayor served as the “top policy maker” on the PRLDEF’s Board of Directors for twelve years, 1980-1992, until she became a federal judge.

According to the Special Report: “The PRLDEF bills itself as an organization that provides legal services to the Latino community. However, the organization’s activities reflect a commitment to the worst aspects of liberal judicial activism: identity politics, race baiting, and ethnic favoritism.”

The following is a partial list of the PRLDEF’s activities during Judge Sotomayor’s tenure as described in Judicial Watch’s Special Report:

* In 1990, the PRLDEF attacked then-New York Mayor David Dinkins after the mayor labeled three Puerto Rican “nationalists” who shot five members of Congress in 1954 “assassins.” The radicals were members of a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN). The PRLDEF said the mayor’s comments “lacked sensitivity.” Reuben Franco, President of the PRLDEF said: “[Mayor Dinkins] doesn’t recognize that to many people in Puerto Rico, these are fighters for freedom and justice...”
* In 1988, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund engaged in a battle with the New York City Police Department over its “racist” promotion exam, ultimately presiding over a radical redesign to allow more minorities to achieve a passing grade. According to The New York Times: “The new test, a four-part exam prepared with the help of an expert designated by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund...involved changes in format, including the addition of open-book questions and a video portion.”
* In 1981, the PRLDEF filed a complaint against Elizabeth, New Jersey Mayor Thomas Dunn following a City Hall directive requiring staff to speak English while on the job. In 1990, the organization also opposed a law to require merchants to post an English sign in the storefront explaining the nature of business.
* In a March 1981 memo to the directors of the PRLDEF, Sotomayor and two colleagues argued against the death penalty because it is, “associated with evident racism in our society” and because it “creates inhuman psychological burdens for the offender.” The memo, which Sotomayor initially failed to turn over to the Senate Judiciary Committee, argued that the PRLDEF should oppose the restoration of the death penalty in New York State.
* In 1981, the PRLDEF applauded a decision by a federal judge that forced teachers at an Ann Arbor Michigan elementary school to undergo “consciousness raising” about a dialect spoken by young black children called “Black English.” The training program cost taxpayers $44,000.

During her 12-year tenure, according to one former staff lawyer, “Sonia [Sotomayor] displayed an increasing amount of leadership on the board.” The New York Times, meanwhile, characterized Sotomayor as the “top policy maker” on the PRLDEF Board of Directors, who “was an involved and ardent supporter of [the PRLDEF’s] various legal efforts during her time with the group.”

“In Judge Sotomayor, Obama offers the personal embodiment of his liberal judicial activist philosophy that places ‘empathy’ above the rule of law. Judge Sotomayor’s leadership positions with the PRLDEF suggest she is more than willing to advance a liberal, race-based agenda through the court system. And for this Judge Sotomayor owes an explanation to the American people,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.


17 posted on 07/12/2009 10:18:00 AM PDT by Eva (union motto - Aim for mediocrity, it's only fair.)
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To: kellynla

I vote no on Sotomayor. Her discrimination against whites is appalling to me.


18 posted on 07/12/2009 10:20:54 AM PDT by linn37 (cue the circus music the democrats are back in charge)
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To: MHGinTN
You might want to change “Any Senator who votes to confirm Sotomayor risks his/her reelection chances” to ‘any Republican Senator who votes to confirm’ this racist Puerto Rican shill...... you know it will not even register with a democrat voter.

My take is that this is a rare consensus issue that cuts across party lines. There are numerous signs ---foremost is when liberal Hillary lost a Dem primary she should have easily won ---lost b/c she endorsed licensing illegals.

Just last week the Senate passed four anti-illegal measures----measures that are strongly opposed by immigrant advocates-----(1) funding E-Verify, (2) Border Fence, (3) Vitter and Grassley Amendments, and, (4) immigration-reduction.

ANOTHER SHOCKER Local law enforcement officers will be able to act as immigration agents under an agreement announced Friday by Homeland Security Eleven new jurisdictions around the nation were accepted into the program, known as 287g, on Friday. HS unveiled a standardized agreement for any local jurisdiction that wants to deputize police to act on behalf of ICE.

19 posted on 07/12/2009 11:50:34 AM PDT by Liz (When people fear govt, we have tyranny; when govt fears the people, we have freedom.)
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To: Grampa Dave
Thanks, Dave, for thinking of me.

I suspect unless there is one HUGE scandal revealed that hasn't been already, the Racist will be the next Supreme.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

20 posted on 07/12/2009 12:01:13 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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