The appellate reversed a decision of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas after it was challenged by the National HBPA, multiple state HBPA affiliates, the State of Texas and the Texas Horse Racing Commission.

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NEW ORLEANS, LA–NOVEMBER 18, 2022–Today the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said congress unconstitutionally gave too much power to a nonprofit authority  it created in 2020 to develop and enforce horseracing rules.

The federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), is "facially unconstitutional."

The authority created by the act was meant to bring uniform policies and enforcement to horseracing amid doping scandals and racetrack horse deaths. But the 5th Circuit — in two rulings issued Friday — ruled in favor of opponents of the act in lawsuits brought by horseracing associations and state officials in Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia.

The Federal Trade Commission has the ultimate authority to approve or reject HISA regulations, but it can’t modify them. And the authority can reject proposed modifications.

Three 5th Circuit judges agreed with opponents of the act — including the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and similar groups in multiple states — that the setup gave too much power to the nongovernmental authority and too little to the FTC.

“A cardinal constitutional principle is that federal power can be wielded only by the federal government. Private entities may do so only if they are subordinate to an agency,” Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote for the panel that ruled in the Texas case.

The same panel, which also included judges Carolyn Dineen King and Kurt Engelhardt, cited the Texas ruling in a separate order in favor of horseracing interests and regulators challenging HISA in a different case.

The chair of the horseracing authority’s board of directors, Charles Scheeler, said it would ask for further court review. Friday’s ruling could be appealed to the full 5th Circuit court of the Supreme Court.

Duncan wrote that in declaring HISA unconstitutional, "we do not question Congress’s judgment about problems in the horseracing industry. That political call falls outside our lane."

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, Louisiana's Attorney General, hailed the ruling on Twitter today, calling HISA a "federal takeover of Louisiana horse racing."