The New York Civil Liberties Union subsequently issued a press release to highlight the fact that 90% of those arrested were black or Latino, which is the story that the press and the politicians ran with.
Its official Twitter account tipped Techmeme, a high profile technology news aggregator, which subsequently pushed out the press release directly from its homepage.
Yet, as Dr. Coburn's release makes plain, in response to questions submitted by senators for the record, Judge Sotomayor subsequently reasserted the idea that foreign law can be "used" by American judges.
Mrs Maldonado subsequently gave a tearful jailhouse interview to a US television station, and at a press conference after her release, she thanked journalists for helping to expedite her case.