The Supreme Court IS an elite institution. It's opinions will be studied by every law student in the country, argued over in every moot court, taught in every university.
If you believe that excellence matters, there is no reason to put an unqualified crony on the court who will be completely out of her depth and intellectually utterly unable to hold her own.
Since when is respect for excellence snobbery ?
Everything you say may be true. How do you know? Well you trust your pudits. Maybe that's enough. I don't know myself. People I very much trust don't like her either but people I do trust do support her. If she can't stand up well to the Senate, I'll join you. Right now I'm waiting for something other than a particular branch of the Repbulican party to try and make a decision. I've noted their opinions as I always do.
"Since when is respect for excellence snobbery ?"
Since when are the nattering nabobs of the press the ones who determine "excellence"? If they could actually do anything, they would. Since they can't, they just nitpick everyone else.
Guess it depends on what you mean by "excellence." A lot of naive people think it means dazzling and complex verbiage. And if she doesn't dazzle them with ponderous bullsh*t, what are they going to do--not let her vote? Get real.