A federal appeals court will not give New Jersey another chance to make the case that the state should be able to legalize sports betting at casinos and horse tracks.
The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia denied a request for rehearing by Gov. Chris Christie, the leaders of the state Legislature and the owners of Monmouth Park Racetrack. None of the ten judges to consider the request voted in favor of it.
The ruling, delivered late Friday, leaves Christie with just one option: Appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state will have 90 days to do so. While there are no guarantees the high court will take the case, Christie and lawyers on both sides of the legal spectacle have agreed it’s a matter best left to the nation’s top justices.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed last year by the NCAA and the nation’s four major sports leagues. The leagues pointed out that the U.S. Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 prohibits states from legalizing or regulating sports betting, and they said New Jersey’s attempt to do so would hurt sports in America.
The state, in turn, argued that the law is not constitutional, suggesting it is unfairly grandfathered in four states, that it violates the 10th Amendment by forcing states to ban sports betting, and that it “commandeers” the state Legislature.
New Jersey lost the first round in U.S. District Court earlier this year when a judge in Trenton sided with the leagues and the U.S. Justice Department, which later joined the case to defend the federal law.
In September, the state lost another round when a three-judge panel from the 3rd Circuit upheld the earlier ruling. But one judge dissented, agreeing with New Jersey that the federal act does commandeer state legislatures and is unconstitutional.
And in a sign of how far-reaching the implications could be, West Virginia, Georgia, Kansas and Virginia all intervened in the case last week on New Jersey’s behalf. The states expressed no opinion on sports betting, but made the argument that the federal act commandeers their legislatures.
This is a reprint from nj.com. To view the original, click here.
