A federal judge in Miami has declared a law that criminalizes voting by noncitizens unconstitutional, dealing a significant setback to President Donald Trump’s administration as it intensifies its crackdown on alleged election fraud ahead of the November midterm elections.
US District Judge David Leibowitz, a appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, dismissed the case against Chelsea Cox, a Florida resident originally from Jamaica. Cox was charged in October 2025 with illegally voting in the 2020 presidential election.
In his ruling, Leibowitz determined that under the US Constitution, the authority to establish voter qualifications rests with individual states, not Congress. He noted that because every state already mandates US citizenship to vote, the power to prosecute Cox lies with Florida rather than the Department of Justice. “Florida can and does,” the judge wrote, pointing out that the state already possesses its own statutes addressing the conduct Cox is accused of.
The decision applies specifically to Cox’s case and does not serve as a binding precedent for other judges. However, approximately 45 similar cases remain pending nationwide, with at least four other defendants having raised the same constitutional challenge.
Court documents reveal that Cox entered the United States as a tourist in 1999 and overstayed her visa. She subsequently utilized a fraudulent birth certificate from the US Virgin Islands, a US territory in the Caribbean, to secure a Florida driver’s license and register to vote in 2012.
President Trump has made false claims that noncitizen voting, a rare occurrence that is already illegal, deprived him of the 2020 election, framing it as part of a Democratic strategy to undermine Republican support. Since returning to office in January 2025, the Department of Justice has filed charges against at least 60 individuals for this offense.
According to Reuters, an analysis of 129 people charged with “voting by an alien” since 2021 found that none were accused of conspiring to influence an election, supporting a specific candidate, or receiving payment for voting. The majority were lawful permanent residents who registered by mistake or due to incorrect guidance from election officials or government clerks.
Bruce Udolf, Cox’s attorney, welcomed the ruling and expressed hope that authorities would not pursue her deportation, citing her declining health conditions.
Wait, so a noncitizen used a fake US Virgin Islands birth certificate to vote? That seems like fraud regardless of jurisdiction.
Good thing states already have their own laws for this. Federal overreach again, and the Constitution is clear.