The Italian mafia is no secret to anyone I know. And that Alito didn't win this case has nothing to do, IMO, with him being of Italian descent. I've known plenty of Italian people and never suspect they belong to the mob. My grandparents came from Germany and our family has no claim to being German Nazis.
While we may privately take some kind of pride in our ancestry, we owe our allegiance to this country. Why take some special pride in an important appointment because... Hey, he and I have similar backgrounds! It smacks of a kind of separatism to me.
If Maria Cuomo was the man up for the SC, that fact that he shared my ancestry would not ameliorate by disgust for him on iota. But, in cotrast to that, Judge Alito shares my values and ideology, and as such I take extra satisfaction in the fact that he is Italian. If that rubs you the wrong way, so be it.