Christie calls on US Supreme Court to address sports betting case

In 2014, Christie signed a bill that repealed prohibitions against sports wagering at casinos and horse racetracks. It was a clever response to the state’s failed attempts two years earlier to legalize gambling on athletic competitions.

Instead of authorizing sports betting, Christie and the state legislature repealed federal injunctions placed on the market through the passage of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).

“

“

Along with the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL, the NCAA sued New Jersey in an attempt to block its wishes to offer lines of collegiate events

”

After a federal judge sided with the leagues and associations, the decision was repeatedly upheld in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Now leaders in the Garden State are asking the country’s highest court to examine the case. Christie and the horsemen issued a brief to the Supreme Court just days before the New Year.

In wording that perhaps only those trained in legal word speak could understand, Christie and the horsemen declare, “This case presents a conflict between two profoundly different views of the distinction between permissible preemption and impermissible commandeering. Congress has created a rule that directly governs private behavior and thereby displaces contrary state law, leaving federal law to govern.”
State’s Case

“

“

Christie’s argument resides on New Jersey’s belief that PASPA mandates states cannot sponsor sports betting

”

Those who want to allow wagering to take place at casinos and racetracks say PASPA violates the so-called “anti-commandeering doctrine,” four US Supreme Court cases that have upheld states’ rights to not be active participants in the enforcement or effectuation of federal decrees.

“If PASPA prohibits States from allowing sports gambling, it prohibits them from repealing prohibitions on sports gambling, and thereby requires them to prohibit sports gambling. But that would plainly violate the anti-commandeering doctrine,” New Jersey claims.

By simply repealing the enforcements of PASPA, Christie believes New Jersey wouldn’t be officially sanctioning sports betting.
The eight current Supreme Court justices will decide whether to accept the plea sometime this month. Incoming President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate the ninth justice to fill the bench soon after his inauguration on January 20.