Miami judge rules federal noncitizen-voting law unconstitutional in Florida case
U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz dismissed a Justice Department case against Chelsea Cox, holding that states — not Congress — set voter qualifications; the ruling binds only her case.
What we know: A Miami federal judge on Thursday dismissed a case accusing a Jamaican national of illegally voting, finding the federal law that criminalizes noncitizen voting unconstitutional as applied, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz held that under the Constitution only states — not Congress — have authority to set voter qualifications for federal elections. Al Jazeera and Reuters both covered the decision as a setback for the Trump administration’s election-fraud crackdown ahead of the November midterms.
The defendant, Florida resident Chelsea Cox, was charged in October 2025 with illegally voting in the 2020 presidential election. Court filings say she entered the United States as a tourist in 1999, overstayed, and later used a fraudulent U.S. Virgin Islands birth certificate to obtain a Florida driver’s license and register to vote in 2012, Reuters reported. Records show she voted in federal elections from 2012 to 2020; only the 2020 ballot fell within the statute of limitations.
How the judge framed it: Because every state already requires U.S. citizenship to vote, Leibowitz wrote it is up to Florida — not the Department of Justice — to prosecute the conduct. “Florida can and does,” he wrote, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. The ruling applies only to Cox’s case and does not bind other judges. About 45 similar cases remain pending nationwide; at least four other defendants have raised the same constitutional challenge, Reuters said.
Official responses: Neither the White House nor the Justice Department immediately commented, Reuters reported. Cox’s lawyer, Bruce Udolf, welcomed the ruling and said he hoped authorities would not seek to deport her, citing her health. Prosecutors had argued Congress is best equipped to handle immigration and foreign affairs and that “foreign interference in elections is clearly within the purview of Congress,” according to Reuters.
Context on the crackdown: The Justice Department has charged at least 60 people with noncitizen voting since Trump returned to office in January 2025, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported. Among 129 people charged with “voting by an alien” since 2021, none was accused of conspiring to sway an election, backing a candidate, or being paid to vote, a Reuters investigation found; many were lawful permanent residents who registered by mistake or on bad advice.
What this means: One federal judge has said Congress cannot use this 1996 statute the way prosecutors tried in Cox’s case. Other courts may or may not follow; states still ban noncitizen voting and can prosecute under their own laws.