Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

After a week of political uncertainty, the Senate has passed a version of the full year-end omnibus spending bill with language affording the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) more rule-making authority in the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), according to a source close to the process. The language is designed to address a ruling in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from November, which found the law as written doesn't afford the FTC enough latitude in the rule-making process. The Senate voted in favor of the bill 68-29, but it...

Facing a United States Court of Appeals decision from the Fifth Circuit that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is unconstitutional and battling three similar lawsuits in various stages within the federal court system, the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) were informed Monday that a U.S. District Court judge in Texas won't grant those defendants a requested stay that would halt the briefing schedule in that case pending a final resolution of the Fifth Circuit order. "No Good Cause Exists to Stay This Action," wrote U.S....

By Bill Finley & Dan Ross The bombshell decision Friday out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that ruled that the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) was unconstitutional has opened up a pandora's box of problems and had legal experts scrambling to make sense of the opinion and figure out what is the best path forward for HISA after a resounding setback in court. "We have a chaotic situation right now," said attorney Alan Foreman, an expert in equine law and the Chairman/CEO...