A federal judge in Miami is set to hear arguments from noncitizen voters facing charges under 18 U.S.C. Section 611, which criminalizes voting by noncitizens in elections involving federal offices. The defendants argue that enforcing citizenship requirements for voting is a state responsibility, not a federal one, based on the Constitution’s provisions regarding elector qualifications. However, the Justice Department counters that Congress has constitutional authority under the Elections Clause to regulate federal elections and has previously criminalized similar offenses. This legal battle highlights the tension between state and federal powers in election regulation.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
A federal judge in Miami will hear oral arguments this week on a legal theory that five people around the country are betting will spring them from noncitizen voting charges.
asserted
people → hear → charges
Their pitch: The statute that made their vote a federal crime is unconstitutional.
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vote → make → ?
Congress, they argue, never had the authority to touch this.
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they → argue → this
Only the states do.
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states → do → ?
In my courtroom experience, when a defendant stops arguing the facts and starts arguing jurisdiction, it’s usually because the facts are a lost cause.
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facts → stop → jurisdiction
That’s what’s happening here, and the public deserves to understand exactly what’s at stake before a handful of judges decide it quietly.
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handful → ’ → it
The law in question, 18 U.S.C. Section 611, came out of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
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law → come → Act
It makes it a federal crime for a noncitizen to vote in an election that includes a federal office.
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that → make → office
Get caught, and you’re looking at a fine of up to $100,000, a year in prison, or both.
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you → catch → prison
For years, enforcement was so lax that Reuters reports some defendants faced fines as low as $150.
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defendants → report → 150
The Trump administration changed that, pairing prosecution with deportation proceedings, and now the people caught in the net are fighting back with a states’ rights argument dressed up as principle.
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people → change → principle
Here’s their case.
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case → ’ → ?
The Constitution ties House elector qualifications to state legislative qualifications under Article I, the 17th Amendment does the same for Senate races, and Article II leaves presidential elector selection to state legislatures.
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Article → tie → legislatures
Every state already requires citizenship to vote.
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state → require → citizenship
So, the defendants argue, enforcing that requirement is a state job, not a federal one.
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enforcing → argue → requirement
Christian Erazo Valdez, an Ecuadorian national charged in Madison, Wisconsin, for voting in the 2024 presidential race, was the first to make the argument in March.
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Valdez → charge → March
Chelsea Cox, a Jamaican national facing similar charges in Miami over a 2020 ballot, is now testing it before U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz.
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Cox → face → Leibowitz
The Justice Department’s answer is straightforward, and it’s the one that should carry the day.
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that → ’ → day
The Elections Clause gives Congress power to make or alter the rules governing federal elections, a power it has used before, including criminalizing repeat voting in the same race.
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it → give → race
Section 611 also sits inside an immigration statute, an area where Congress has broad, well-established authority.
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Congress → sit → authority
The DOJ compares it to the ban on foreign nationals making campaign contributions, a restriction courts have upheld without much fuss.
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courts → compare → fuss
Rob a federally insured bank and tell the judge that only your state’s attorney general has jurisdiction because banks operate branches locally.
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banks → rob → branches
No court would buy it, because federal interests and state administration can coexist without one canceling the other.
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one → buy → other
Elections work the same way.
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Elections → work → way
States run the polling places and print the ballots.
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States → run → ballots
Congress protects the federal offices that those ballots decide.
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ballots → protect → that
That’s not a contradiction.
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That → ’ → ?
It’s the design the founders wrote down.
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founders → ’ → ?
The defendants aren’t inventing their theory from nothing.
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defendants → invent → nothing
States do hold the primary role in setting voter qualifications, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent a career reminding courts that enumerated powers mean what they say and nothing more.
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they → hold → what
But even under a strict originalist reading, the elections clause and the naturalization power both give Congress a legitimate hook here.
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clause → give → hook
Congress passed this law in 1996, long before anyone in this dispute had heard of the current administration.
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anyone → pass → administration
A win for the defendants wouldn’t legalize noncitizen voting.
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win → legalize → voting
It would just hand enforcement back to state prosecutors, some of whom have neither the appetite nor the budget to chase these cases.
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some → hand → cases
With rulings possibly landing before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the timing raises the stakes for public confidence in an election system that’s already taking enough hits.
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that → land → hits
Congress should close the door on this argument before a sympathetic judge opens it wider.
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judge → close → it
The right to vote in elections belongs to citizens.
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right → vote → citizens
That’s not radical.
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That → ’ → ?
It’s the whole point of citizenship, and no clever motion to dismiss should be allowed to make it optional.
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it → ’ → citizenship
He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University and has completed postgraduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Pennsylvania; and Harvard University.
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He → have → Pennsylvania
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
