The WSJ has an article entitled "In College Thesis, Sotomayor Appeared to Support Puerto Rican Independence" As you can see from the article's title, it's actually a hit piece, in that it implicitly questions her patriotism. Moreover, the article is trying to paint her as a multicultural fanatic:
The Princeton thesis was written at a time of heated political debate over Puerto Rico’s future. Beginning in 1974 and continuing for nearly a decade, the paramilitary group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, or FALN, carried out bombings in the U.S. to push for independence for the island.
Ms. Sotomayor described the inconclusive debate over Puerto Rico, even after a 1967 plebiscite in which 60% of voters agreed with Mr. Muñoz Marin in favoring commonwealth status. She noted that economic difficulties in Puerto Rico were continuing. Mr. Muñoz Marin, she argued, had a great impact on Puerto Rico, but he failed to see how the commonwealth status "simply perpetuated the very conditions he hoped to change."
Ms. Sotomayor’s apparent support for Puerto Rican independence reflected her concern over preservation of the island’s culture. She wrote: "The experiences of Alaska and Hawaii since statehood with cultural destruction has been indicative of the cultural loss Puerto Rico would eventual [sic] face if statehood for the island were chosen. Under the commonwealth status, there has been a gradual deterioration of the Spanish language among the Puerto Rican populace and a growing Americanization of the island."
The article provides context to Sotomayor writing her thesis. Debates about Puerto Rico's status were raging in the '70s. This was the time the FALN were carrying out bombings in the U.S. in favor of Puerto Rican independence. According to the article Sotomayor was in favor of independence because she was concerned about preserving Puerto Rican culture. There are several problems with the article. One is that this a college thesis that was written more than three decades ago. Moreover, this article is an insidious attempt in painting Sotomayor as an extremist. In the guise of giving context to the thesis the article author(s) mention FALN without discussing the group's relation to Sotomayor's thesis. It's left hanging in there. I don't think that the author'(s) intent was to paint Sotomayor in this fashion but a reader could infer that way. Knowing how the Right is already attacking this woman by making her the "Other", we need to be vigilant of these attacks or innuendos.
UPDATE: The Weekly Standard is even mining through her op-eds in the college paper. Talk about being desperate.