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

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 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.