Still, the media and most politicians seem to think Sotomayor's ethnic heritage and gender are relevant to the story of her Supreme Court nomination. She's the first female Hispanic to be named to the highest court in the land, and that must mean something, the thinking goes. But what? Frankly, it was only a matter of time before an Hispanic reached the Court. True barriers -- meaning disqualifications based on race, ethnicity or gender -- simply don't exist anymore.
Most ordinary Americans seem to have caught on to this phenomenon faster than elites, which may be why they are becoming increasingly skeptical of the idea that we need government policies to enforce "diversity." A new Quinnipiac University poll taken after the Sotomayor nomination shows that 70 percent of Americans are opposed to granting preferences to minorities or women in hiring in order to promote diversity. Even members of some of the groups granted such preferential treatment seem unenthusiastic about it. Hispanics, for example, overwhelmingly oppose preferential treatment in government hiring in order to promote diversity, 58 to 38 percent. But they split more evenly when the question is phrased in the more nebulous terms of "affirmative action" in hiring, promotions, or college admissions, with 48 percent opposing and 47 percent favoring affirmative action for Hispanics.
Which brings me back to Judge Sotomayor's nomination and my reaction to it. I doubt that those clamoring for more diversity on the Court would be thrilled if the nominee were an Hispanic (or Asian or black or Muslim or gay) woman whose views were closer to Justice Antonin Scalia's than Ruth Bader Ginsburg's. I don't remember many diversity devotees cheering Clarence Thomas' appointment -- even though his life story trumps Sotomayor's in the overcoming hardship category.
The next time someone asks me what I think about the Sotomayor pick, I'll say: It's not about a black president picking an Hispanic woman to replace a white man on the court. It's about a liberal president choosing a liberal jurist to replace a retiring liberal justice. It's not diversity; it's more of the same.