Here2help,

What part of that sentence was 'faint praise?' "Very bright and very hard-working," with a resume that, frankly, not 5% of lawyers (not that a Supreme Court justice need be a lawyer) can lay claim to. The very same sentence, minus the "Hispanic," could have been used with regard to Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts. What should we say? "Arg, I was blinded by her incredible brilliance!" Chances are, the more brilliant people around are too controversial to be confirmed anyway - far better to be clever, fair-minded and hard-working, I think.

Also, the "best person for the job" for a *panel* of powerful officials cannot be looked at in isolation. With regard to race & religion, the vagaries of a nine-judge panel means that chances are that not everyone can be represented all at the same time. However, with regard to gender... come on, ONE out of NINE Justices? And we've never had more than TWO? How does that not pose terrific legitimacy issues?