As I alluded to before, one of the worst things about affirmative action is that it makes minorities’ credentials worth less — there’s often the lingering question of whether they could have achieved the same thing had they been held to the same standard as everyone else.

In a great post at The Weekly Standard’s blog, Michael Goldfarb explores one of the lesser-known ramifications of this:

Sotomayor’s supporters — most of whom support racial preferences — insist that Sotomayor is so smart and capable she would have succeeded regardless of any affirmative action policies. And maybe she would have, but it’s clear she never got the chance. Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court is precisely the kind of outcome liberals were hoping for when they set up a system of preferences. And it is precisely the outcome [then-Princeton president] Bowen was hoping for when he implemented a system of preferences. But now that that outcome has been achieved, liberals don’t want to take any credit for their success. It’s a very odd thing to see a social policy become orphaned at the moment of its greatest triumph.