Criminalizing Non-Citizen Voting Ruled Unconstitutional by Biden Appointed Judge [WATCH]

A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden has dismissed a criminal case against a Jamaican national accused of illegally voting in the 2020 election. Judge David Leibowitz also ruled that Congress lacked the constitutional authority to make her alleged conduct a federal crime.

The decision targets 18 U.S.C. § 611, which prohibits noncitizens from voting for president, vice president, the U.S. Senate, or the House. The statute declares it “unlawful for any alien to vote” in an election for federal office, subject to narrow exceptions.

Violating the federal law can carry a prison sentence of up to one year. Leibowitz ruled Thursday that Congress did not have the authority to enact that prohibition, at least as it applied to the prosecution before him.

The ruling directly applies only to the case against Cox and does not bind federal judges elsewhere. Still, defense attorneys in other cases now have a federal decision they can cite when challenging similar prosecutions.

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According to Reuters, the decision appears to be the first federal court ruling that found the 1996 statute unconstitutional. The law remains on the books, and the official U.S. Code continues to state that voting by an alien in a federal election is unlawful.

Federal court filings cited by Reuters said Cox entered the United States from Jamaica as a tourist in 1999. She remained in the country after her visa expired the following year.

Cox allegedly used a fraudulent U.S. Virgin Islands birth certificate to obtain a Florida driver’s license. She then allegedly used those documents to register to vote in 2012.

Records cited in the case showed that Cox voted in federal elections between 2012 and 2020. Prosecutors charged her in October 2025 over her 2020 vote because the earlier elections were outside the applicable statute of limitations.

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Leibowitz did not rule that Florida must allow Cox or other noncitizens to vote. In fact, his decision explicitly recognized that the state possesses the power to prohibit and punish the conduct alleged in the case.

“Can the State of Florida prohibit and punish the exact conduct Defendant Cox allegedly engaged in here?” Leibowitz wrote. “Florida can and does.”

The judge instead based his decision on the constitutional division of authority between Congress and the states. He concluded that states have the power to establish voter qualifications and that Congress exceeded its authority by making noncitizen voting in federal elections a federal crime.

WATCH:

Federal prosecutors argued that Congress has authority over immigration, foreign affairs, and foreign interference in American elections. “Foreign interference in elections is clearly within the purview of Congress,” prosecutors argued.

The ruling presents a potentially significant obstacle to the Trump administration’s increased enforcement of the statute. According to Reuters, the Justice Department has charged at least 60 people with noncitizen voting since Trump returned to office in January 2025.

Roughly 45 of those cases remain pending nationwide. At least four other defendants have reportedly raised constitutional challenges similar to the one advanced in Cox’s case, although the judges handling those cases are not required to follow Leibowitz.

The dispute does not erase the distinction between local and federal elections. Some jurisdictions allow noncitizens to participate in certain local contests, but that is not equivalent to voting for president or members of Congress.

Section 611 addresses elections for federal offices and contains an exception for certain elections that also include local contests where noncitizen voting is authorized. That exception applies only when voting is structured so that the noncitizen cannot vote for federal candidates.

Federal immigration law separately provides that a noncitizen who unlawfully votes in violation of federal, state, or local law can be deportable. A narrow exception exists for certain people who reasonably believed they were U.S. citizens under specified circumstances.

The decision does not suddenly make noncitizen voting legal throughout the country. It dismisses one prosecution because one judge concluded Congress lacked the constitutional authority to criminalize the alleged conduct under Section 611, while Florida’s citizenship requirement remains in force.

The immediate question is whether Leibowitz’s reasoning will survive an appeal. With other prosecutions pending and similar constitutional challenges already emerging, the Justice Department now has a powerful reason to contest a ruling that gives defense attorneys a fresh road map.

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