GOP senator: Sotomayor group's 'extreme positions'

By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

A top Republican senator says a Puerto Rican legal advocacy group advised by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor took extreme positions on capital punishment, abortion and racial quotas.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions says it's absurd for the White House to argue that documents detailing the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund's activities while Sotomayor sat on its board are not relevant to her nomination.

He's the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee evaluating the federal appeals court judge.

The White House says the panel already has all relevant information on Sotomayor.

Sessions says more PRLDEF documents could shed light on Sotomayor's approach, including her views on racial preferences in employment.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The White House hit back Thursday at a key Republican senator who has accused Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's allies of withholding documents from her past.

White House Counsel Greg Craig told Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, that board meeting minutes and other papers detailing the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund's activities while Sotomayor was an outside adviser aren't relevant to her nomination. Republicans have raised concerns about the judge's involvement in the group, arguing it has taken extreme positions.

Sotomayor early last month gave the panel documents she contributed to or helped write as a board member, but Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary chairman, joined Sessions recently in asking for more information about the group's activities and policy positions while she was involved.

The organization, now know as Latino Justice PRLDEF, began sending some of that material to the committee Wednesday, but Sessions' office said Sotomayor's backers were delaying the release of the information to prevent a thorough investigation.

Cesar Perales, PRLDEF's president and general counsel, told the AP earlier this week that he planned to send the documents on a rolling basis, and all of them would arrive on Capitol Hill by the end of the week. Hearings on Sotomayor's nomination are scheduled to begin July 13.

In a letter to Sessions, Craig said the Judiciary panel already has all pertinent documents on Sotomayor. He said the judge never served on PRLDEF's staff or supervised its employees, and noted that Republicans have in years past refused to release similar documents on their own Supreme Court nominees