Are You Smarter Than a Yale Law Grad?

Sometimes, you can't win for losing. You can do the right thing and still get called out.

Minorities and women are told you can achieve anything, break any glass ceiling if you work hard. Poor? Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Uneducated? Study, earn scholarships and the world will recognize you.

Of course, you might be told this by someone who got into a university because granddad went there, or got a job because it's a family company.

But never mind the infuriating inconsistency. What choice do you have?

So you take the advice, put your nose down and overcome adversity and illness and graduate at the top of your class. You work long hours, climb the ladder and get somewhere, maybe, say, to a nomination to the Supreme Court.

And what happens?

The resume is tossed aside, every achievement credited to affirmative action, sometimes by guys who went to a school graced with a building named after...

You get the idea.

The noxious piece of the whisper campaign against Sonia Sotomayor says she's not too, well, smart. Her top-of-the-class status at Princeton is ignored. Who knew they gave out law review spots at Yale like Halloween candy?

Her story is familiar. I've heard it all my life, sometimes from guys whose copy I edited. You don't know a person until you've edited his or her raw copy. (Excuse me, but "fiscal" and "physical" are not interchangeable.)

This particular line of attack cuts no ice with me.