Politics & World / Background
Voting prosecution dismissed; no new entitlement to vote
Background: Cato’s October 6 post highlighted Stephen Richer’s analysis of the October 1 Cox ruling. Florida federal judge David Leibowitz dismissed the prosecution of Chelsea Cox. We read the order’s opening, scope and conclusion: 18 U.S.C. §611 was unconstitutional as applied to her, not a finding that she qualified to vote.
The court expressly declined a facial challenge covering every application of the statute. Cato stresses that Florida remains able to prohibit and punish noncitizen voting; one district-court decision does not bind courts nationwide. Failed federal prosecution does not mean nationwide legalization.
Richer asks whether the SAVE America Act’s citizenship-document rules verify qualifications established by states or impose an additional federal qualification. That is analysis of potential litigation, not a ruling invalidating that Act. The judge also discusses a hypothetical federal law supporting state qualifications, leaving it to a future real case. We have not checked subsequent appeals; this is labeled background.
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