The motto of North Carolina, the state of my birth, is “Esse Quam Videri.” It’s Latin, meaning “To be rather than to seem.” Drawn from an essay on friendship by Cicero, an ancient Roman statesman, it also includes this: “… [N]ot nearly so many people want actually to be possessed of virtue as want to appear to be possessed of it.”
The just-concluded Senate hearings of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson suggests that many senators to whom the Constitution assigns the responsibility to “advise and consent” on Supreme Court nominations are dismissive of Cicero’s judgment about public servants.
That doesn’t absolve them from the responsibility to see their constitutional role in vetting Supreme Court nominees is not just a solemn privilege. They should approach the vital responsibility of interviewing the nominees with the respect that every future Supreme Court justice deserves.
Indeed, if senators treated nominees with courtesy instead of contempt, who knows? They might realize that it would be politically virtuous to interview nominees rather than interrogate them.
Even better – excuse the naïveté – they could also resolve to treat interviewees with respect instead of rudeness.