Sixth Circuit Court Declines Further HISA Hearing

A major legal challenge to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act finds itself with only one avenue of recourse now that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has said it will not conduct a more extensive review of the legislation. 

The appeals court on May 18 denied a motion asking for a hearing before the entirety of the Sixth Circuit roster of appeals judges, leaving intact an opinion rendered earlier this year by a three-judge panel declaring the legislation constitutional.

The next meaningful step for the challengers to HISA, the State of Oklahoma, and others, is to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for what is called a writ of certiorari. If the petition were granted, the high court would take an appeal of the Sixth Circuit ruling under consideration. A denial, however, would render the Sixth Circuit opinion final.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously declared HISA facially unconstitutional, will in a matter of months revisit the issue following a Congressional amendment to the underlying legislation designed to address that court's concerns. The amendment granted more power to an agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to oversee the regulatory activities of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which is a private corporation created by the original legislation.

The Sixth Circuit took the amendment into consideration before issuing its ruling. An order filed today says, "No judge has requested a vote on the suggestion for rehearing" by the entire panel.