The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judge who previously dismissed terror charges against one of the Garland, Texas shooters has a connection to the controversial activist group, National Council of La Raza.

Judge Mary Murguia, appointed by President Clinton and considered a potential nominee to the Supreme Court by President Obama, was the judge who dismissed government charges against Elton Simpson for suspected terrorism in 2011. On Sunday, Simpson attacked a free speech event in Garland, Texas depicting the Prophet Muhammad in cartoons.

Daniel Greenfield cites evidence from the 2011 case:

The FBI knew that Elton Simpson, one of the Garland Jihadists, was a threat and had attempted to lock him up after amassing evidence that he intended to go to Somalia as a terrorist. They had him on tape stating “that Allah loves an individual who is “out there fighting [non-Muslims]” and “If you get shot, or you get killed, it’s [heaven] straight away.” Mr. Simpson then said “[Heaven] that’s what we here for…so why not take that route?”

Judge Murguia held then that the government was unable to prove Simpson mentioned violent jihad in his reasoning for traveling to Somalia. “That phrase is one made up by the Government, likely because it is aware that jihad in the Muslim religion does not necessarily imply violence,” she said, noted Greenfield.

However, the LA Times previously noted that Judge Murguria’s twin sister Janet Murguia leads a controversial group known as National Council of La Raza, which has been criticized as a racist hate group. It is the nation’s largest Latino civil rights activist organization. La Raza is closely linked to the Obama Administration’s amnesty efforts.

Human Events, a conservative blog, previously reported that the mainstream media views La Raza “no more than a Hispanic Rotary Club.” But La Raza collected roughly $15.2 million in federal grants in 2005. Human Events also reported that undisclosed amounts of that money were used in “get-out-the-vote efforts supporting La Raza political positions.”

La Raza has been added to congressional hearings and “an anonymous senator even gave the Council of La Raza an extra $4 million in earmarked taxpayer money, supposedly for “housing reform,” according to Human Events.

Moreover, Judge Murguria’s brother, Carlos Murguria, helped coordinate the Immigration Amnesty Program prior to Clinton nominating him also for a judgeship, according to Front Page Magazine.