Miami Judge Dismisses Cox Case, Rejects Federal Ban

A federal judge in Miami dismissed the federal prosecution of Chelsea Cox, a Jamaican national accused of voting in the 2020 presidential election, ruling that Congress lacks authority to set voter qualifications and that the federal law barring noncitizens from voting was unconstitutional as applied in her case. The decision does not invalidate the law nationwide or make noncitizen voting legal in Florida, where state law separately prohibits it; it also does not bind other judges. The ruling comes as the Trump administration has made noncitizen voting a focus of its election-integrity efforts and pursued related cases. The decision has drawn attention because it challenges the constitutional basis for federal prosecutions, though its immediate effect is limited to Cox’s case.