Court says racing authority is still unconstitutional

A federal court again denied an appeal by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority of its ruling that the agency is unconstitutional.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans had ruled in November that HISA is unconstitutional because it delegates "unsupervised power to a private entity."

Congress addressed that concern by clarifying that the Federal Trade Commission must oversee HISA, and the agency then asked the court to vacate its ruling in light of that change.

The court denied that appeal Tuesday and remanded the case back to U.S. District Court "for further proceedings." It also lifted its stay against a preliminary injunction that prohibited enforcement of HISA rules in Louisiana and Texas.

HISA released the following statement in response to the ruling.

"In the aftermath of the recent Congressional amendment, and without opining on the newly amended HISA law, the Fifth Circuit has sent the case back to the district court. Outside Louisiana and West Virginia, the authority will continue enforcing the racetrack safety program and preparing for the implementation of its anti-doping and medication control program on March 27, subject to the Federal Trade Commission’s approval of the rules."

And Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, which opposes HISA, said in a news release, "We view this as additional strong evidence as to the valid concerns we have been raising all along and this should remind everyone that constitutionality isn’t optional. We have made it very clear that the one-sentence so-called fix tucked into Congress’ must-pass year-end spending bill did not address all the legal questions created in the HISA corporation’s enabling legislation."