The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida delivered a landmark decision on October 1, 2026. Judge David Leibowitz dismissed a federal prosecution of Chelsea Cox a Florida resident originally from Jamaica, declaring the 1996 federal statute that makes it a misdemeanor for non-citizens to vote unconstitutional. The ruling underscores that, under the Constitution, the authority to establish voter qualifications rests with the individual states, not with Congress.
Background of the Cox case
Cox entered the United States as a tourist in 1999 and remained after her visa expired the following year. Court filings reveal she later obtained a fraudulent birth certificate from the U.S. Virgin Islands—a U.S. territory—to secure a Florida driver’s license and to register to vote in 2012. She participated in federal elections from 2012 through the 2020 presidential contest. In October 2025, federal prosecutors charged her with illegally voting in the 2020 election, invoking the 1996 alien-voting statute.
Judicial reasoning and constitutional basis
Leibowitz, who was appointed by President Joe Biden wrote that the Constitution assigns the power to set voter qualifications to the states. “Every state already requires U.S. citizenship to vote,” he noted, adding that enforcement of the law against Cox should therefore be a matter for Florida, not the Department of Justice. He quoted his own conclusion: “Florida can and does” have the legal tools to punish the conduct alleged.
The judge emphasized that the 1996 law attempts to regulate a domain that the Constitution reserves for the states, making it an overreach by Congress. His opinion marks the first federal finding that the statute violates the Constitution, although the decision applies only to Cox’s case and does not bind other courts.
Political fallout and broader context
The decision arrives as the Trump administration intensifies its campaign against alleged election fraud ahead of the midterm elections. Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, the Department of Justice has charged at least 60 individuals under the alien-voting provision.
Trump has repeatedly claimed—without evidence—that non-citizen voting cost him the 2020 election and has called for stricter enforcement of citizenship documentation. Critics argue that the focus on a rare phenomenon undermines public confidence in the electoral system. At the time of the ruling, roughly 45 similar cases were pending nationwide, with at least four other defendants challenging the law on comparable constitutional grounds.
Cox’s attorney, Bruce Udolf welcomed the judgment and urged authorities not to pursue deportation, citing his client’s declining health. The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately comment on the ruling.
