If you were class president of your high school.
If you were a star on your high school debate team.
If you graduate from Harvard-Magna Cum Laude.
If you earn your JD from Harvard Law School-Cum Laude.
If you were an editor of Harvard Law Review.
If you were a Clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer.
If you were a respected federal public defender.
If you are confirmed as a U.S. District Court Judge.
If you are then confirmed as a Judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
If you do everything right. If you do it all with style and grace. If you do it with the wit and charm of someone who also showed talent in improv comedy.
Republicans will not hold you up as the embodiment of the American Dream, alive and well in the US. You will not be praised for your hard work. You won’t even be held up as an example of the US not being racist. You won’t be considered qualified. You will not be given the benefit of any doubt.
What they will do is demand to see your LSAT scores.
Respectability politics is like treading water and waiting for conservatives to toss you a life jacket. They will never toss it. And when you give up and drown they’ll blame you for giving up. Clearly you didn’t want it enough.
