'Did You Present An ID?': John Kennedy Grills Judge Nominee About Voter ID Laws

[0:10] Mr. Ossetti, well, first, congratulations to all of you. [0:19] You used to work at Brown Cave? [0:23] Yes, Senator. [0:24] It's in St. Louis. That's their main office. [0:27] Yes, one of the largest offices in St. Louis. [0:29] It's like a merge with a British firm now, so it used to be in St. Louis. [0:33] Now it's all over the place. [0:34] Yeah, well, that's a good sign. [0:37] Brown Cave doesn't hire dummies, do they? [0:41] I don't think so. [0:43] No, one of my best friends from law school is the senior partner there, John Shaper Cotter. [0:54] He'd have met a great judge if I'd have gotten here earlier. [0:58] I'd have done my best to get him on the bench. [1:01] You're at Civil Rights now, right? Civil Rights Division? [1:05] Yes, Senator. [1:06] Okay. I want to follow up on the points made by my good friend, Senator Durbin. [1:18] I'm trying to understand the argument, legal argument, against voter ID. [1:34] Suppose I filed a federal lawsuit and I said it is unconstitutional to require anyone who wants to vote to have to present an ID. [1:54] It is un-American. It's arrogant. [1:59] It's the government saying they don't trust me. [2:03] I'm an American citizen. [2:05] I'm entitled to be trusted. [2:08] And if I say I am who I am, you have to take my word for it. [2:14] Suppose I filed that lawsuit. [2:21] What do you think the judge would do based on the law? [2:23] Well, in my experience as a litigator, those kind of measures, like in 2022 in Missouri, that kind of was the argument. [2:35] Folks thought it was going to be burdensome to have a voter ID or have to show their ID. [2:40] But one of the things that we pointed out in that litigation is that IDs are used for many different things. [2:45] I mean, you can't even travel in an airplane. [2:47] You can't even come into some buildings, certainly not to the Department of Justice. [2:51] And frankly, there were also alternatives. [2:55] You could vote through a provisional ballot. [2:57] You could provide other forms of ID. [3:00] You can sign a certification. [3:02] There were other less burdensome measures, if that was the argument, not saying we accepted it or not, [3:06] that courts will weigh in deciding whether or not those measures are constitutional or not. [3:11] But ultimately, the courts are very deferential and considerate to the state's sovereignty to enact its own laws. [3:18] And so long as it doesn't infringe on a federal constitutional right, they tend to uphold those laws. [3:25] And I think that's kind of been the trend over the last few years. [3:28] You, of course, have voted before, have you not? [3:31] I have, Senator. [3:32] Very fortunate. [3:33] Did you present an ID? [3:36] I did, Senator. [3:37] And how long did that take for them to confirm, look at your ID? [3:42] I want to say probably like a minute, maybe less. [3:47] Okay. [3:48] And if you hadn't had your ID, would they have said, go away, you can't vote? [4:05] Would they have, in Louisiana, if you don't have your ID, you can fill out an affidavit? [4:11] Right. [4:12] Is that the case? [4:13] So it varies by state. [4:15] But in my experience in Missouri, you can vote what's called a provisional ballot. [4:19] And you fill out this form and you can track, you know, your ballot. [4:23] But they match your voter file. [4:25] They match your signature. [4:26] They match other, you know, once you register to vote, there's other, you know, an address and other identifications that they can match. [4:32] But you can go provisionally. [4:33] Help me understand why that's unfair. [4:42] Why that would inhibit anybody from voting. [4:44] Senator, it's no secret that our country has had past instances. [4:51] Certainly, you know, we had a constitutional amendment to abolish poll taxes and, you know, other... [4:56] They don't have a poll tax. [4:57] Of course not. [4:58] But my point is, I think folks try to equate a lot of those common sense measures that we have today to those very draconian and racially discriminatory measures. [5:08] And I just don't think that's a fair characterization. [5:10] So it's largely, I think, a subset of that. [5:14] But again, I think it's a very common sense measure. [5:17] It's very easy. [5:17] And I think the state of Missouri makes it very easy to vote. [5:22] And it's harder to cheat. [5:24] Okay. [5:25] All right. [5:25] I'm sorry. [5:25] I'm out of time, gentlemen. [5:27] I didn't get to you. [5:28] I think Senator Hawley, I mean, Senator Blumenthal is next.