美国一名联邦法官裁定，将非公民投票定为刑事犯罪的法律违宪，这对唐纳德·特朗普政府在11月中期选举前打击所谓选举舞弊的努力构成挫折。迈阿密美国地区法官戴维·莱博维茨周四驳回了一起针对切尔西·考克斯的联邦案件。考克斯是原籍牙买加的佛罗里达州居民，于2025年10月被控在2020年总统选举中非法投票。
A United States federal judge has ruled that a law criminalising voting by noncitizens is unconstitutional, dealing a setback for President Donald Trump’s administration as it cracks down on alleged election fraud ahead of November’s midterm elections US District Judge David Leibowitz in Miami dismissed a federal case on Thursday against Chelsea Cox, a Florida resident originally from Jamaica who had been charged in October 2025 with illegally voting in the 2020 presidential election.
莱博维茨由前民主党总统乔·拜登提名出任法官。他认定，根据美国宪法，只有各州而非美国国会有权设定选民资格。
Leibowitz, who was nominated to the bench by former Democratic President Joe Biden, found that under the US Constitution, only individual states, not the US Congress, have the authority to set voter qualifications.
他写道，由于每个州都已要求投票者必须是美国公民，因此应由佛罗里达州而非司法部来起诉考克斯违反这一规定。“佛罗里达州可以并且确实在这样做，”他写道，并指出该州已有自己的法律针对考克斯被指控的行为。
Since every state already requires US citizenship to vote, he wrote, it is up to Florida, not the Department of Justice, to prosecute Cox for breaking that rule. “Florida can and does,” he wrote, noting the state already has its own laws against the conduct Cox is accused of.
该裁决仅适用于考克斯一案，对其他地方的大法官没有约束力，不过全国仍有约45起类似案件待审。至少还有四名被告提出了同样的宪法挑战。
The ruling applies only to Cox’s case and it does not bind judges elsewhere, though about 45 similar cases remain pending nationwide. At least four other defendants have raised the same constitutional challenge.
法庭文件显示，考克斯1999年以游客身份进入美国，签证逾期滞留，后来使用一份来自美属维尔京群岛（美国在加勒比地区的领地）的伪造出生证明，获得了佛罗里达州驾照，并于2012年投票。
Court filings show Cox entered the US as a tourist in 1999, overstayed her visa, and later used a fraudulent birth certificate from the US Virgin Islands, a US territory in the Caribbean, to obtain a Florida driver’s licence and to vote in 2012.
特朗普虚假声称，非公民投票导致他输掉2020年大选，并将其描绘为民主党削弱共和党支持的更广泛努力的一部分。非公民投票本身已属违法且极为罕见。
Trump has falsely claimed that noncitizen voting, which is already illegal and rare, cost him the 2020 election and has cast it as part of a broader effort by Democrats to dilute Republican support.
自特朗普于2025年1月重返白宫以来，司法部已就此罪名起诉至少60人。
The Department of Justice has charged at least 60 people with the offence since Trump returned to office in January 2025.
据路透社报道，自2021年以来，在129名被控“外籍人士非法投票”的人中，没有一人被指控密谋操纵选举、支持特定候选人或受雇投票。其中大多数人被发现是合法永久居民，他们是在误解情况下，或在选举工作人员或政府职员的错误建议下进行了投票。
Among 129 people charged with “voting by an alien” since 2021, none was accused of conspiring to sway an election, backing a candidate, or being paid to vote, according to Reuters. Most were found to be lawful permanent residents who haded by mistake or on the incorrect advice of an election worker or government clerk.
考克斯的律师布鲁斯·尤多夫对这一裁决表示欢迎，并表示希望当局现在不要寻求将她驱逐出境，理由是她的健康状况正在恶化。
Cox’s lawyer, Bruce Udolf, welcomed the ruling and said he hoped authorities would not now seek to deport her, citing her declining health conditions.