Supreme Court strikes down law banning sports betting

The Supreme Court has struck down a federal law that banned sports betting in almost every state across the country, handing former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) a major win to bolster his legacy. New Jersey has been fighting since 2010 to make sports wagering legal at racetracks and casinos in the state, but had repeatedly been blocked by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The Court ruled 7-2 that PASPA’s provisions prohibiting states from authorizing and licensing a sports gabling scheme violates the anti-commandeering rule. “PASPA 'regulates state governments’ regulation' of their citizens. The Constitution gives Congress no such power.”...MORE

 Some refreshing language on the Tenth Amendment by Justice Alito. From the opinion:

As the Tenth Amendment confirms, all legislative power not conferred on Congress by the Constitu tion is reserved for the States. Absent from the list of conferred powers is the power to issue direct orders to the governments of th e States. The anticommandeering doctrine that emerged in New York v. United States, 505 U. S. 144, and Printz v. United States, 521 U. S. 898, simply represents the recognition of this limitation. Thus, “Congress may not simply ‘com- mandeer the legislative process of the States by directly compelling them to enact and enforce a federal regulatory program.’ ” New York, supra , at 161. Adherence to the anticommandeering principle is im- portant for several reasons, including, as significant here, that the rule serves as “one of the Constitu tion’s structural safeguards of lib- erty,” Printz, supra , at 921, that the rule promotes political accountability, and that the rule prevents Congress from shifting the costs of regulation to the States.