Both the House and the Senate are out of session until after the midterm elections. The Senate adjourned on September 30 after the Majority Leader was not able to get passed voter ID and the congressional stock trading ban (both of which are addressed in H.R. 7008), as well as the Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340).
When both chambers return to Washington, they face a busy lame-duck session, and government funding expires on December 11. Until then, most of the action is on the campaign trail, or in the courts and with the Trump Administration, the latter of which are busy with the same questions: Who is a citizen, and who gets to cast votes?
On October 1, Biden-appointee U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz in Miami dismissed a federal case against a Jamaican national who voted in the 2020 presidential election despite not being a U.S. citizen. The court absurdly ruled that the federal law that makes it a crime for a noncitizen to vote in a federal election is unconstitutional because only states can set voter qualifications. The ruling argues that states, not Congress, must regulate voting by noncitizens.
Federal prosecutors say that the Jamaican national in the case overstayed a tourist visa by over 20 years, obtained a Florida driver’s license with fraudulent U.S. Virgin Islands papers, registered to vote, and cast ballots in federal elections beginning in 2012.
The system finally caught up with the Jamaican national a decade later, thanks to conservatives’ efforts to root out noncitizen voting. Now, however, an activist judge claims that the federal government cannot prosecute her for it.
Thankfully, the ruling only applies to this specific case, and the Justice Department has already moved to appeal the ruling to the Eleventh Circuit. The state of Florida still has the authority to bring state charges, and the separate federal crime of falsely claiming citizenship to vote is not impacted.
But this is an important case. The law that Judge Leibowitz calls into question is effectively the foundation of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal aliens voting in federal elections. Many legal scholars believe the Eleventh Circuit will overturn the ruling, but this will be a pivotal decision.
Liberals have gone all-out to halt the SAVE America Act, which would help ensure illegal aliens never have the opportunity to vote in federal elections in the first place. Now, an activist judge is attempting to undermine the government’s ability to enforce a penalty on the back end if illegal aliens do in fact vote.
Conservatives should emphasize what is obvious: The fact that a Jamaican national was able to cast a vote means that front-end verification of U.S. citizenship before receiving a ballot and voting matters all the more.
The noncitizen voting case and any future action in Washington on election integrity underscore how critical the next few weeks will be for the future of our Republic.
ICYMI…
- Don’t miss Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech in Greece urging Western civilization to defend itself. See the Secretary’s op-ed and speech here on Fox News.
- Uncover how big liberal donors have quietly targeted the Wyoming State Freedom Caucus in The Federalist: How George Soros and Democrat Dark Money Infiltrated America’s Reddest Red State. Similarly, a “green new deal” super PAC has dropped millions to defeat Freedom Caucus members this cycle. Read more in the Daily Signal.
- The Justice Department released a key report this week exposing the Biden Administration’s campaign to target parents who protested Critical Race Theory and COVID mandates.
- Read up on President Trump’s approval of a military firing-squad execution of the Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.