Cato Institute Files Amicus Brief in Support of NJ

Earlier this week the Cato Institute and the Pacific Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief in support of New Jersey’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding online sports betting. New Jersey is claiming that the federal ban on sports gambling in all but 4 states is unconstitutional.

The brief was filed supporting New Jersey’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding online sports betting.
The brief questions two aspects of the federal ban. Firstly whether it removes the power of U.S. states to regulate in direct violation of the Tenth Amendment and secondly whether the law discriminates in favor of Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware and hence violates the principle of equal sovereignty.
The brief may help New Jersey’s appeal as its underlying logic is sound. It argues that the federal ban on sports gambling is an extraordinary and possibly unconstitutional law.
The brief claims that the ban “is unique in that it directly regulates the ability of states to change their own laws, interfering with the relationship between the states and their residents and undermining the democratic process at the state level.”