Judge David Leibowitz
Southern Florida U.S. District Court
David Seymour Leibowitz was born in 1971 in Miami, Florida. He earned an undergraduate degree and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania. He also received a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. He served as a law clerk for a judge on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Leibowitz served as an assistant district attorney for Middlesex Count in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He then became an as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. He served as corporate counsel for a management association in Miami, advancing to secretary and general counsel.
President Joe Biden nominated Leibowitz to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in November 2023. His nomination was returned to the president in January, and President Biden renominated Leibowitz. The Senate confirmed him in late February 2024, and he received his judicial commission in March 2024.
In the News…
Judge David Leibowitz of the Southern Florida U.S. District Court dismissed the federal case against a Jamaican national accused of intentionally casting a ballot in the 2020 presidential election in Broward County when she was not a U.S. citizen.
Judge Leibowitz decided that the U.S. Constitution gives states, not Congress, the authority to determine who is eligible to vote. He ruled that Section 611 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, was unconstitutional in this case.
“The best reading of the actual statute that underpins this criminal case yields an inescapable conclusion,” Judge Leibowitz wrote. He found the act that bans noncitizens from casting ballots “is a voter qualification statute, and the Constitution does not authorize Congress to legislate voter qualifications for federal elections. Except for very specific constitutional provisions, Congress has no power to say who can vote or who cannot vote in federal elections — that foundational power is reserved for the States, and limits Congress.”
The judge limited his opinion to the defendant in the case and did not rule on the argument that Section 611 is unconstitutional on its face.
The Department of Justice has appealed the decisions to the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Leibowitz today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable David S. Leibowitz
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. United States Courthouse
400 North Miami Avenue
Miami, Florida 33128
