This anti-elitism is getting silly beyond belief. No, not everyone who goes to Harvard is genius, and not everyone at SMU is a dolt. But the "elite" schools (including a good number west of the Mississipi) attract the brightest and most ambitious applicants in huge numbers. They are harder to get into, and they are harder to survive in--in short, the odds are in their favor. Let us please remember that "elite" means "best"--not "snootiest".
Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas all went to "elite" schools (Stanford, Harvard, and Yale, respectively). Justice Harlan--the great conservative dissenter on the Warren Court---only went to NY Law School (probably so he could go part time). On the other hand, he was as blue-blooded as they come, got his BA from Princeton, and a Rhodes Scholarship. Elitist through and through.
Many of the conservatives who are opposing this nomination are people who normally support the President. That should make you take their objections seriously, not just brand them as "elitists."
It's really worse than that. I think it smacks more of pure philistinism, a trait that will condemn conservatism to the scrapheap of history if it continues to grow unchecked.
BTTT