Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Finds HISA Unconstitutional

[Wandering Eyes]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that they “conclude that HISA is facially unconstitutional.”

“A cardinal constitutional principle is that federal power can be wielded only by the federal government,” the court wrote in its opinion. “Private entities may do so only if they are subordinate to
an agency. But the Authority is not subordinate to the FTC. The reverse is true. The Authority, rather than the FTC, has been given final say over HISA's programs.”

The district court's decision reverses the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas's ruling which found HISA was constitutional, as did a parallel case in Louisiana. That case was appealed by several local and national HBPAs, and those appeals were combined to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. A similar case is pending in Kentucky.

:Soon after passage, HISA was challenged by various horsemen's associations, who were later joined by Texas and the state's racing commission. The plaintiffs argued HISA is facially unconstitutional because it delegates government power to a private entity without sufficient agency supervision,” writes Circuit Court Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan in the decision. “The district court acknowledged that the plaintiffs' `concerns are legitimate,' that HISA has `unique features,' and that its structure `pushes the boundaries of public-private collaboration.' Nonetheless, the
court rejected the private non-delegation challenge, concluding HISA `stays within current constitutional limitations as defined by the Supreme Court
and the Fifth Circuit.' We cannot agree.”

This story will be updated.

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