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Judge Rules Federal Noncitizen Voting Ban Unconstitutional
Confirmed
In Short: U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz dismissed a case against Chelsea Cox, ruling the federal law barring noncitizens from voting unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz dismissed a criminal case against Chelsea Cox on Thursday, ruling that a federal law prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections is unconstitutional.
Leibowitz's 31-page order dismissed the misdemeanor charge against Cox, who was accused of voting illegally in the 2020 presidential election.
The judge stated that the 1996 federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 611, which prohibits non-U.S. citizens from voting in federal elections, exceeds Congress's authority and intrudes on a power reserved to the states.
The Justice Department had argued that the federal government has the right to exclude non-citizens from voting in federal elections, citing the need to regulate federal elections and preserve the privilege of federal citizenship.
The decision, which applies only to Cox, could impact the Justice Department's broader efforts to pursue noncitizens who vote, a practice that most election experts consider rare.
Despite the ruling, the Supreme Court recently cleared the way for the Trump administration to use a revamped federal voter eligibility database to prevent noncitizens from voting.
The case highlights the ongoing debate over federal versus state authority in regulating voter eligibility and the rare instances of noncitizens voting in federal elections.
What this adds
The ruling is the first time a court has deemed the federal noncitizen voting ban unconstitutional.
The decision could potentially undermine the Justice Department's efforts to prosecute noncitizens for voting, even though such instances are rare according to most election experts.
What's confirmed
- Leibowitz ruled Thursday in a 31-page order that the criminal case against Chelsea Cox, who was charged in October 2025 with a misdemeanor for illegally voting in 2020, must be dismissed.
- He said a decades-old federal law that prohibits a non-U.S. citizen from voting in a federal election, 18 U.S.C. § 611, is unconstitutional.
- The judge said state prosecutors in Florida could prosecute Cox under state law for unlawfully voting, not the federal government.
- "This is an unusual criminal case. It rests upon a forty-year-old federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 611, that prohibits the act of voting in a federal election by a non-U.S. citizen. Until very recently, no federal court has been presented with the following question about that statute: Did Congress have Constitutional authority to enact it. That's unusual, all by itself," Leibowitz wrote.
- "So why does the Government lead with such a weak hand. Because it's the best hand it can play," he said.
- In an amicus brief filed over the summer, Clement found that Congress likely "overstepped constitutional bounds in enacting §611."
- He noted that, while no state currently allows noncitizens to vote in federal elections, there is some history of states allowing the practice.
- The decision applies only to Cox and appears to be the first time a court has deemed the statute unconstitutional.
What's still developing
- In a phone conversation Friday night, Cox's attorney Bruce Udolf said his client is "gratified" by Leibowitz's ruling and said it was a "huge relief to her."
- "principal defense of the statute's constitutionality invokes a single Supreme Court case that is very, very weak."
- "And why is that? Because the text, structure, and original public meaning of the Constitution show that Congress does not have the constitutional power to enact this statute."
- "provides that the federal government play a significant role in overseeing such elections."
- U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz for the Southern District of Florida, a Biden appointee, on Thursday threw out a federal charge of illegal voting against Chelsea Michelle Ann Cox, a Jamaican national who allegedly cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election, Reuters reported.
- Leibowitz wrote in his 31-page opinion that a federal ban on noncitizen voting couldn’t be used to support Cox’s prosecution since the U.S. Constitution says that states generally determine voter eligibility.
- “To hold otherwise would allow Congress to establish and modify the parameters of its own special electorate, entirely divorced from what Florida or any other State may decide,” Leibowitz said.
- Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival posted on X on Friday regarding the ruling, mocking politicians who have denied that noncitizens have voted in elections.
- "A Biden appointed judge in Florida says that federal bans on noncitizen voting are unconstitutional. The thing that never happens is now 'constitutionally protected activity!'" Percival wrote.
- "In other words, Congress has plenary authority over the admittance of aliens and the standards under which they are allowed to be in the U.S. That gives the federal government the authority to ban aliens from voting or otherwise in any way participating in the democratic process," he continued, later adding, "This is an obviously wrong decision that will be squashed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals."