On Thursday, October 1, Judge David Leibowitz of the Southern District Court of Florida rejected federal charges against Chelsea Cox in a lengthy 31-page ruling, citing the charges as unconstitutional. The decision has sparked controversy.
Cox, originally from Jamaica and a non-U.S. citizen, participated in the 2020 presidential election in Broward County, Florida. The federal government filed a lawsuit against her in October 2025, accusing her of overstaying a tourist visa and using a forged U.S. Virgin Islands birth certificate to register to vote.
Judge Leibowitz ruled that the Constitution grants states, not Congress, the power to determine who is eligible to vote in elections. Therefore, he deemed the provision in the 1996 federal law, Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), making it a crime for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, unconstitutional in Cox’s case.
In his ruling, Leibowitz wrote, “The Constitution grants states, and only states, the universal power to determine voter qualifications for federal elections, which is evident from the constitutional text and debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.”
The ruling contradicted the federal government’s argument that the Constitution gives Congress complete authority to regulate immigration and non-citizens.
He acknowledged that Congress has “broad and unquestionable” powers over immigration and non-citizens, but these powers are not “a blank check” and cannot override the “fundamental constitutional constraints” granting states the authority to determine voter qualifications.
The ruling has faced strong opposition from Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a co-sponsor of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
Lee wrote on X, “This absurd ruling is sure to be overturned…Non-citizen voting is illegal, yet radical judges are trying to dismantle laws that prohibit non-citizen voting!”
Legal researcher Hans von Spakovsky of the organization Advancing American Freedom also believes that Leibowitz’s decision is likely to be “overturned” by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Spakovsky told Fox News, “Judge David Leibowitz’s conclusion that the federal law prohibiting foreign nationals from voting is unconstitutional is clearly wrong. States do indeed have the constitutional power to prescribe who can vote in federal elections, but he overlooks the fact that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress complete power over citizenship.”
He stated that the Constitution empowers Congress to determine how non-citizens enter the United States and what activities they can engage in upon entry.
He said, “This (referring to the Constitution) grants the federal government the power to prohibit foreigners from voting or participating in any way in the democratic process.”
Spakovsky cited a ruling written by then-Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh in 2011 in the case Bluman v. FEC, which was later briefly affirmed by the Supreme Court, upholding restrictions on campaign spending by foreign nationals.
The ruling stated that the government can bar non-citizens from participating in activities related to democratic self-governance.
Kavanaugh wrote, “The Supreme Court has long held that the government (federal, state, local) can exclude foreign nationals from U.S. democratic self-governance activities, for example, the Supreme Court has ruled that the government can prohibit foreigners from voting, serving on juries, serving as police officers or probation officers, or teaching in public schools.”
Abhishek Kambil, a partner at the Holtzman Vogel law firm, expressed surprise that if the federal government’s appeal fails.
Kambil pointed out that in the case Oregon v. Mitchell, the Supreme Court ruled that the government has the authority to set the voting age for federal elections and therefore has the authority to set voter qualifications.
Kambil told Fox News, “The Supreme Court has ruled that in certain situations, the federal government has the authority to regulate certain voter qualifications, but this judge’s (referring to Leibowitz) interpretation has muddled everything.”
While Judge Leibowitz’s ruling prevents the federal government from continuing to prosecute Chelsea Cox, Florida still has the right to pursue state charges.
Leibowitz was nominated and appointed by President Joe Biden and officially took office as a federal district court judge for the Southern District of Florida on March 1, 2024.