Judge Rules Federal Noncitizen Voting Law 'Unconstitutional'
The Facts
- A federal judge in Miami dismissed a case Thursday against Chelsea Cox, a Florida resident from Jamaica charged in October 2025 with illegally voting in the 2020 election, ruling that the law criminalizing noncitizen voting is unconstitutional.
- U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz, a Biden appointee, wrote that "Congress has no power to say who can vote or who cannot vote in federal elections," finding the Constitution reserves voter qualifications to the states.
- The ruling applies only to Cox's case and does not bind other judges. About 45 noncitizen voting prosecutions remain pending nationwide, and at least four other defendants have raised the same constitutional challenge.
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The Spin
Anti-Trump narrative
The Constitution hands states — not Congress — the power to decide who qualifies to vote, so a criminal charge built on a statute Congress had no authority to pass is no charge at all, no matter how unpopular the defendant. Florida already bans and punishes this conduct, so nothing is lost by keeping federal power inside its constitutional lane. However, the ruling is a setback for Trump's federal election-fraud push.
Pro-Trump narrative
Striking down the federal ban on noncitizen voting is judicial overreach that guts protection of national elections. The same voices insisting noncitizen voting "never happens" cheer when the law against it gets tossed, even as indictments pile up. Citizenship should be verified before a ballot is cast, and federal elections deserve a uniform federal safeguard. Thankfully, President Trump's DOJ can appeal and SCOTUS can still step in.
