Miami Judge Rules Noncitizen Voting Law Unconstitutional

A United States federal judge has ruled that a law criminalizing voting by noncitizens is unconstitutional, impacting the Trump administration's efforts to address alleged election fraud ahead of the November midterm elections. US District Judge David Leibowitz in Miami dismissed a federal case on Thursday against Chelsea Cox, a Florida resident originally from Jamaica, who had been charged in October 2025 with illegally voting in the 2020 presidential election. Leibowitz, nominated by former Democratic President Joe Biden, determined that under the US Constitution, only individual states, not Congress, have the authority to set voter qualifications. He noted that every state requires US citizenship to vote and stated that it is up to Florida, not the Department of Justice, to prosecute Cox for violating that rule. The ruling applies only to Cox’s case and does not set a precedent for other judges, although about 45 similar cases remain pending nationwide, with at least four other defendants raising the same constitutional challenge. Court documents indicate that Cox entered the US as a tourist in 1999, overstayed her visa, and later used a fraudulent birth certificate from the US Virgin Islands to obtain a Florida driver’s license and register to vote in 2012. The Department of Justice has charged at least 60 individuals with the offense since Trump took office in January 2025. Among 129 people charged with 'voting by an alien' since 2021, none were accused of conspiring to influence an election or being paid to vote. Most were lawful permanent residents who registered by mistake or received incorrect advice from election officials. Cox’s lawyer, Bruce Udolf, expressed hope that authorities would not seek to deport her, citing her declining health conditions.