North Jersey – The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied Governor Christie a rehearing of a judicial panel’s affirming of the federal ban on sports betting at the state’s horse racing tracks and Atlantic City casinos.
The three-page filing signed by Circuit Judge Julio M. Fuentes noted that none of the three judges requested a rehearing, and neither did a majority of the circuit’s judges.
The state’s attorneys had sought a hearing from the full circuit — a process known as “en banc” — in part because the vote by the panel in September was 2-1. Judge Thomas Vanaskie dissented in part from the majority, finding that the 21-year-old federal law banning the gambling in 46 states illegally “commandeers” the authority of states such as New Jersey by directing what actions they can and cannot take regarding the betting.
The court’s ruling on Friday leaves only one more chance in the legal system for New Jersey’s sports betting law: an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that would have to be filed within 90 days of Friday’s ruling.
Christie, a former U.S. Attorney, and other lawyers involved in the case have suggested for the past year that such a move is almost inevitable given the Constitutional questions involved.
“A very high percentage of petitions to rehear cases en banc are denied,” said Griffin Finan, a sports law attorney in Washington, D.C., who has followed the sports betting case closely. “Given the importance of this case and its implications on the power of the federal government to regulate the states, I think this is the type of case that the Supreme Court is interested in addressing.”
