Supreme Court Sports Gambling Case Will Have a Big Impact on States

The Supreme Court today will hear an important case concerning states’ ability to make their own policies independent of the federal government. The case, Christie v. NCAA, concerns New Jersey’s efforts to repeal its own law banning sports betting, as the state’s voters and legislature already voted to do. CEI Senior Fellow and gambling policy expert Michelle Minton says much is at stake:

The Supreme Court’s ruling will directly impact states’ ability to decide their own priorities and laws on countless policies important to state citizens, not just gambling but everything from immigration, to gun and ammunition sales, to marijuana, and even assisted suicide. The federal government should enforce its own laws and leave states alone to decide their own laws, and hopefully the Court will rule that way.

CEI, together with Pacific Legal Foundation and the Cato Institute, submitted an amicus brief supporting New Jersey in this case, arguing that a federal anti-gambling law violates the Constitution’s prohibition against federal “commandeering” of states, because the law requires states to enforce it.

Related: Sports Gambling 101