Judge says federal law banning noncitizen voting is unconstitutional

A federal judge in Miami has thrown out the prosecution of a Jamaican national accused of voting illegally, ruling that the law used against her exceeds Congress's powers. U. S. District Judge David S. Leibowitz, appointed by President Joe Biden, found that 18 U. S. C. § 611, which makes it a misdemeanor for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, is unconstitutional because the Constitution leaves voter qualifications to the states. In his 31-page order, he said Florida prosecutors could pursue Chelsea Cox under state law, but the federal government could not. The ruling covers only her case and appears to be the first of its kind, yet it could complicate the Justice Department's push against noncitizen voting. The department quickly moved to appeal, according to CBS News.

Prosecutors had charged Cox in October 2025 over a 2020 vote, alleging she overstayed a tourist visa decades ago, got a Florida driver's license with a fraudulent birth certificate, and voted in several elections beginning in 2012. They contended the federal government has a meaningful part in overseeing federal elections. Leibowitz called the government's main precedent "very, very weak." He had sought analysis from Paul Clement, a former solicitor general under President George W.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CBS News’s reporting. Read the full story at CBS News →