Attorney General Jim Hood of Mississippi and Attorney General Jeff Landry of Louisiana joined their counterparts from West Virginia, Arizona, and Wisconsin in filing a brief of Amici Curiae in support of the State of New Jersey’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari in its sports wagering case. In the case styled Governor Christopher J. Christie, et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, et al., an en banc panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals interpreted the Professional and Amateur Sports Act, 28 U.S.C. § 3702, as prohibiting States from modifying their existing laws to repeal prohibitions on sports wagering.  As a result of this interpretation, the Supreme Court has been petitioned for writ of certiorari in this case to determine whether the Act commandeers the regulatory authority of the States in violation of the Tenth Amendment.

The crux of Amici States’ argument focuses on the fact that federal law does not directly prohibit sports wagering when it takes place in a State in which such wagering is legal.  Rather, the Act makes it unlawful for a State, other than those that were grandfathered in at the time the Act was enacted, to license or authorize sports wagering.  As a result, the Amici States argue that the federal regulatory approach that currently exists amounts to unconstitutional commandeering instead of lawful preemption under the Supremacy Clause.  However, the Amici States explicitly assert that they take no position on the specific sport wagering laws at issue in this case.  Instead, the Amici States are not concerned in this instance with what Congress regulates but rather the manner in which Congress regulates.

It will be interesting to follow this case through this process to see what, if anything, Congress and the Amici States will do if New Jersey prevails.  Based on the Amici States arguments, Congress could still elect to directly regulate sports wagering, although it appears that the tide has turned and that such regulation would be disfavored by the majority of Americans.  In Mississippi, Mississippi Code § 75-76-101, which requires that all gaming be entirely located and conducted on the licensed premises, would have to be addressed, at a minimum, to implement sports wagering.  Similar laws would have to be addressed to permit sports wagering in Louisiana as well.  In any event, although the arguments in this case are focused primarily on States’ rights in relation to the federal government, the outcome could have interesting consequences in gaming jurisdictions around the nation.