Supreme Court backs enforcement of law intended to clean up horse racing industry

By John Fritze and Ben Church, CNN

(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed an independent authority to enforce a federal anti-doping law for the horse racing industry that was enacted in the wake of a series of thoroughbred fatalities, touching on a more sweeping separation-of-powers fight galloping toward the justices in coming weeks.

The court’s one-paragraph order left the enforcement mechanism in place while the justices eye a series of appeals raising more fundamental questions.

Congress passed the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act in 2020 following several highly publicized thoroughbred fatalities and corruption scandals. Among other things, the law created the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, a private enforcement entity that operates under oversight from the Federal Trade Commission.

The groups defending the law told the Supreme Court that, in 2019 alone, 441 thoroughbreds died from race-related injuries, a far higher rate than in other countries. Because of those deaths, the industry has faced safety questions internally and from animal rights groups across the US in recent years.

A three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld much of the law but struck down the authority’s enforcement power, writing that the law allowed the private entity to “issue subpoenas, conduct searches, levy fines” without approval from the FTC. “That,” the appeals court ruled, “is forbidden by the Constitution.”

And so while the order Monday was limited to the horse racing industry, a decision from the Supreme Court down the line on the merits could have much wider impact if it answers a question about when federal agencies may delegate powers to private entities.

There are already several appeals on that issue pending at the Supreme Court, including one in the horse case and another from the Biden administration involving the Universal Service Fund, a multibillion-dollar pool of money that Americans fund through fees on phone bills. The issue is whether the Federal Communications Commission can “delegate” the levying of that fee to the private entity that administers the fund.

Both parties agree the court should take up that case, which makes it a likely candidate for consideration – as soon as early next year.

“The intervention in the relatively smaller horseracing case seems a pretty clear signal that the court is going to take up some or all of the bigger cases, too – and probably sooner, rather than later,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

If it does so, it will be the latest instance of the Supreme Court weighing into administrative law in a way that could significantly weaken federal agencies. Just a few months ago the court overturned a precedent that required lower courts give deference to federal agencies when interpreting vague laws – an outcome that has already inspired a flood of challenges to other federal regulations.

President Donald Trump signed the horse racing industry law in 2020 and it enjoyed bipartisan support. The law is being challenged by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, which represents horse owners and breeders.

The industry has been dotted by several doping scandals over its long history. Perhaps the most high-profile allegation in recent years involves US trainer Bob Baffert. The legendary trainer was banned after his horse, Medina Spirit, failed a drug test after initially winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

Baffert said at the time the drug was in a topical ointment used for a skin infection and Medina Spirit had not been injected with it.

He later said he was responsible for any substances found in his trained horses and has “paid a very steep price” with Medina Spirit’s disqualification and a three-year suspension from Churchill Downs. Baffert has since been reinstated.

Also, in 2020, more than two dozen people involved in the industry were indicted for taking part in a scheme to give horses performance-enhancing drugs to help them win races around the world.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a member of the court’s liberal wing, dissented from the court’s decision on Monday for technical reasons, asserting that there was no need for the Supreme Court to step into the emergency case since the same questions are pending on the merits docket.

The-CNN-Wire
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