Federal judge dismisses noncitizen-voting charge after ruling statute unconstitutional
Rights & JusticeWell-covered
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The Facts
- U.S. District Judge David S. Leibowitz dismissed the federal voting case against Chelsea Cox.
- Cox was charged federally with voting in the 2020 election despite lacking U.S. citizenship.
- Leibowitz ruled that 18 U.S.C. § 611 is unconstitutional.
- Leibowitz held that the Constitution generally leaves voter qualifications to states rather than Congress.
- The ruling applies to Cox’s case and does not bind other federal judges.
- The Trump administration appealed Leibowitz’s ruling.
- The ruling could affect Justice Department cases involving alleged noncitizen voting.
Context
What law did the judge invalidate?
The ruling concerned 18 U.S.C. § 611, a federal statute that prohibits noncitizens from voting in elections for federal offices, subject to narrow exceptions. Aol CBS News Objectivist
Does the ruling legalize noncitizen voting in Florida?
No. Leibowitz said Florida could still prosecute Cox under state law, and sources say Florida’s citizenship requirement for voting remains in force. Aol CBS News Objectivist
What happens next?
The Trump administration appealed the decision, which currently applies only to Cox’s federal criminal case. Washington Times National Desk
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Leibowitz's ruling is narrow — it binds only Cox's case, not other federal judges — yet both sides treat the underlying constitutional question as consequential enough to fight over on appeal.
- Where Left and Right split
- The left and the right split on whether Congress can ban noncitizen voting, or only states set that rule.
- Why they won’t converge
- The split is a trust-in-institution divide over who may legitimately define voter qualifications — states or Congress — a constitutional-authority question that no single ruling resolves even once the facts of Cox's case are settled.
- Watch for
- Watch whether the Trump administration's appeal of Leibowitz's ruling succeeds, since the Washington Times reports his reasoning, if upheld, could undercut dozens of other noncitizen-voting prosecutions.Washington Times
How left and right read it
Federal prosecutors should have to show that Congress had the power to criminalize the conduct before they build a national enforcement push on it — and here a judge found it did not, because the Constitution generally leaves voter qualifications to the states rather than Congress. That is why dismissing the case against Chelsea Cox matters beyond her: the ruling cuts at the legal footing for a Justice Department campaign against a practice experts call rare. Hold the line on who gets to set the rules.
“But it could dent the Justice Department's push to pursue noncitizen voting, a practice that most elections experts say is rare but that President Trump has long alleged -- without evidence -- is common.” — CBS News
Citizenship is the line that makes self-government mean anything, and a federal statute saying noncitizens may not vote in federal elections defends that line. So the dismissal of the case against Chelsea Cox, charged with voting in 2020 without citizenship, matters less as a technical holding than as a single district judge declaring 18 U.S.C. § 611 unconstitutional — a ruling that binds no one else, which is precisely why the administration's appeal should restore it. The ban must stay enforceable.
“A Biden-appointed federal judge in Miami claims a federal ban on noncitizens voting is unconstitutional and has dismissed a case against a migrant who voted in 2020.” — Breitbart
The fight is over who decides: Congress enforcing a citizenship ban, or states holding the power to set voter qualifications.
The receipts — all 15 sources
Independent coverage (15)
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