NEW ORLEANS \u2014 Congress unconstitutionally gave too much power to a nonprofit authority it created in 2020 to develop and enforce horseracing rules, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, or HISA, is \u201cfacially unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The authority created by the act was meant to bring uniform policies and enforcement to horseracing amid doping scandals and racetrack horse deaths. But the 5th Circuit \u2014 in two rulings issued Friday \u2014 ruled in favor of opponents of the act in lawsuits brought by horseracing associations and state officials in Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Trade Commission has the ultimate authority to approve or reject HISA regulations, but it can\u2019t modify them. And the authority can reject proposed modifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three 5th Circuit judges agreed with opponents of the act \u2014 including the National Horsemen\u2019s Benevolent and Protective Association and similar groups in multiple states \u2014 that the setup gave too much power to the nongovernmental authority and too little to the FTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA cardinal constitutional principle is that federal power can be wielded only by the federal government. Private entities may do so only if they are subordinate to an agency,\u201d Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote for the panel that ruled in the Texas case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same panel, which also included judges Carolyn Dineen King and Kurt Engelhardt, cited the Texas ruling in a separate order in favor of horseracing interests and regulators challenging HISA in a different case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chair of the horseracing authority\u2019s board of directors said it would ask for further court review. Friday\u2019s ruling could be appealed to the full 5th Circuit court of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf today\u2019s ruling were to stand, it would not go into effect until January 10, 2023 at the earliest,\u201d Charles Scheeler said in an email. \u201cWe are focused on continuing our critical work to protect the safety and integrity of Thoroughbred racing, including the launch of HISA\u2019s Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program on January 1, 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling was criticized by Marty Irby, executive director of the Animal Wellness Action organization. \u201cOver the course of three Congresses, the most brilliant legal minds on Capitol Hill addressed the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act\u2019s constitutionality and ultimately decided that the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s limited oversight was sufficient,\u201d Irby said in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the subjects covered by the authority\u2019s rules and enforcement were jockey safety (including a national concussion protocol), the riding crop and how often riders can use it during a race, racetrack accreditation, and the reporting of training and veterinary records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Animal rights groups, who supported the law, pointed to scandals in the industry involving medication and the treatment of horses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duncan wrote that in declaring HISA unconstitutional, \u201cwe do not question Congress\u2019s judgment about problems in the horseracing industry. That political call falls outside our lane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, hailed the ruling on Twitter, calling HISA a \u201cfederal takeover of Louisiana horse racing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Authority created by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was meant to bring uniform policies and enforcement to the sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":74096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,31,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3197],"class_list":["post-24822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-home","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"J3EAOJOLOZHMPJV5TKCIIHFC7U","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/congress\/2022\/11\/20\/congress-gave-horseracing-authority-too-much-power-court-rules\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n