US Judge Finds Law Criminalizing Noncitizen Voting Unconstitutional

A US judge dismissed ​a federal case on Thursday that accused a Jamaican national of illegally voting, finding the law criminalizing noncitizen voting was unconstitutional and delivering a blow to ‌the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged election fraud.

The ruling by Miami-based US District Judge David Leibowitz applies only to the case of Florida resident Chelsea Cox, who was charged in October 2025 with illegally voting in the 2020 election. It is not binding for judges in other cases.

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The Justice Department has charged at least 60 people with noncitizen voting since Trump returned to office in January 2025.

The ​ruling by Leibowitz, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, appears to be the first time a federal court has found the ⁠1996 law a violation of the US Constitution.

Leibowitz wrote that under the US Constitution only states can set voter qualifications, not Congress. Every state requires US citizenship to vote, and Leibowitz said ​it was up to Florida, not the Department of Justice, to prosecute her for violating that requirement.

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In a court filing, the Justice Department had said Congress, not the states, was best-equipped to handle immigration and foreign affairs.

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Cox entered the United States as a tourist in 1999 and remained after her visa expired the next year, according to a court filing by the government. She used a fraudulent US Virgin Islands birth certificate to obtain a Florida driver’s license and used those documents to register to vote in 2012.

Records show she voted in federal elections from 2012 to 2020, but only the 2020 election was within the statute of limitations.

There are about 45 pending noncitizen voting cases around the country and at least four other defendants have challenged the law on similar ​grounds. Judges in those cases may find Leibowitz’s ​reasoning persuasive, but they are not bound ⁠by his decision.

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