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HISA Authority and FTC Again Ask Supreme Court to Take Up ‘Outlier’ Constitutionality Opinion

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The Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have both petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to have another look at HISA’s constitutionality, specifically as it pertains to an opinion issued twice out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that ruled HISA’s rulemaking structure is constitutional, but its enforcement provisions are not.

The separate HISA Authority and FTC filings, dated last week but just docketed Aug. 17, were the expected next moves in an ongoing lawsuit that dates to 2021 and has already once resulted in the Supreme Court telling three lower appeals courts to re-examine earlier decisions in light of a similar case that the Supreme Court had ruled on in 2025.

The original litigation out of the Fifth Circuit was spearheaded five years ago by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) and 12 of its affiliates against the HISA Authority and the FTC.

For the better part of the last five years, both sides in this lawsuit–and in two similar federal cases challenging HISA that also reached the Supreme Court level but were remanded–have sparred over the non-delegation doctrine, which bans Congress from delegating legislative power to federal agencies without an “intelligible principle” to guide the exercise of agency discretion.

Three separate appeals courts–the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits–have all agreed that HISA’s rulemaking structure is constitutional. Only the Fifth Circuit has disagreed, in part, by consistently opining that HISA’s enforcement provisions are unconstitutional.

“All parties agree that the Fifth Circuit’s outlier judgment warrants review,” stated HISA’s Aug. 10, 2026 writ of certiorari, which is the formal term for asking the Supreme Court to take up a case. “Given the intractable conflict over the facial constitutionality of HISA’s enforcement provisions, only this Court can provide an authoritative nationwide ruling on that issue of legal and practical importance.”

The HISA petition continued: “Two administrations have supported HISA. Two bipartisan Congresses have embraced it, including through an amendment in late 2022 that fortified the FTC’s oversight. And all but one of the federal courts that have resolved an identical challenge to the amended statute have reached the same conclusion: HISA is constitutional.

“The Fifth Circuit contradicted that consensus, holding that HISA’s enforcement provisions facially violate the private-nondelegation doctrine. That decision–embracing the most extreme assumptions about the HISA regime, including hypothetical applications of provisions that have never been exercised–ignores this Court’s caution against wiping out broad swaths of federal legislation on a facial basis. It also disregards the many ways Congress purposefully subordinated the Authority’s implementation of HISA to the FTC’s substantial oversight.

“Moreover, the decision [issued June 11] brushes aside cautionary signals this Court already issued in this very case,” the HISA petition stated.

TDN emailed Eric Hamelback, the NHBPA’s chief executive officer, requesting comment on the HISA and FTC petitions to the Supreme Court. No reply was received prior to deadline for this story.

A year and a half ago, the three cases out of the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits had all been appealed up to the Supreme Court level.

Then, on June 30, 2025, the Supreme Court issued nearly identical “summary dispositions” for all three lawsuits involving the constitutionality of HISA, telling each respective appeals court that it wanted them to re-examine their rulings in light of a relevant decision the Supreme Court had just issued on June 27, 2025.

The new precedent that the Supreme Court told the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits to consider involved a case titled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vs. Consumers’ Research.

In that case, the Supreme Court justices, by a 6-3 vote, rejected arguments that the funding mechanism for a service that provides subsidized telecommunications services for low-income customers, rural hospitals, schools, and libraries violated the non-delegation doctrine. The Supreme Court also rejected a claim that the FCC delegated too much authority to a private company to administer the program.

The Sixth Circuit was the first to act on the Supreme Court’s remand in a case led by the states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana. On Dec. 17, 2025, the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of HISA for a second time.

Those states (plus a handful of other plaintiffs who first signed on to the original lawsuit back in 2021) have already asked the Supreme Court to re-examine that second Sixth Circuit constitutionality ruling, via a writ of certiorari dated May 15, 2026.

In it, the states and the other plaintiffs claim that the Sixth Circuit “erroneously” analyzed the application of the private non-delegation doctrine to the Act.

In the Eighth Circuit anti-HISA case, the plaintiffs are executives with the Arkansas and Iowa HBPA chapters.

That lawsuit involves a 2024 appeals court opinion that had affirmed a ruling out of a lower federal court in Arkansas denying a preliminary injunction the horsemen had sought to halt HISA and its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program.

Now approaching the 14-month mark since the Supreme Court remanded the case, the Eighth Circuit is the lone remaining appeals court yet to issue any revised HISA ruling. There have been no entries on that court’s docket for this case since June 17.

The post HISA Authority and FTC Again Ask Supreme Court to Take Up ‘Outlier’ Constitutionality Opinion appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Casse Feeling Good about Silent Tactic as He Works Toward Travers

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Honestly, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse didn’t know what he was going to get from Silent Tactic (Tacitus) when he sent him to the GII Jim Dandy Stakes on the first day of August.

It was his first race since March.

The colt had battled a foot problem all spring.

He was going up against two of the titans in the division in Renegade (Into Mischief) and Commandment (Into Mischief).

“I went into it thinking if we got beat eight lengths to those horses, it would be a good thing,” Casse said outside his barn at the Saratoga backstretch Wednesday morning. “Then, at about the eighth pole, I was thinking he might win this thing.”

Silent Tactic, owned by John Oxley and ridden by Luis Saez, did not win but he ran well, finishing third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Renegade and two lengths off Commandment.

Not a bad effort at all and now, it’s full speed ahead to the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes a week from Saturday.

Wednesday, Silent Tactic worked five furlongs in 1:01.34 (2/7) with Edwin Soto on his back. They worked in company with 4-year-old filly Nerazurri (Protonico) and Reynaldo Dumont. She is being pointed to the $500,000 GI Personal Ensign on Travers Day.

Silent Tactic is never going to blow anyone away with his morning works, but Casse liked what he saw from him Wednesday.

“I was going to breeze him a half and then I decided to go five-eighths because he is not exceptionally fast,” he said. “I wanted him to get a little blow and get something out of it. If you watched him work, you would think he is a $25,000 claimer.”

Before the Jim Dandy, Silent Tactic was last seen running second behind Renegade in the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn on March 28. Nagging problems with a foot knocked him out of the GI Kentucky Derby and then the GI Preakness Stakes.

Casse decided then to aim for a Saratoga summer campaign and here they are.

The bruised foot is behind them, and the Travers is in full view in front of them.

“I definitely came away from the Jim Dandy feeling the best I have ever felt about him,” Casse said. “I feel very good about him going into next week.”

It’s Always a Long Walk for Shisospicy

Every morning, Shisospicy (Mitole) takes a long walk to work.

The 4-year-old filly, trained by Jose D’Angelo, is led out of her stall at Clare Court and begins the journey to the Oklahoma Training Track, which is about a 20-minute walk. She is accompanied by exercise rider Jose Rivera and assistant trainer Angel Ayala and, when he’s here, D’Angelo.

Shisospicy in a recent work on the Oklahoma | Sarah Andrew

The trainer flies into Saratoga whenever Shisospicy works. He comes from wherever he happens to be with his other divisions– California, Florida, Kentucky or Virginia.

The ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ has had three works on the Oklahoma this summer, the most recent being Sunday when she went four furlongs in :47.95 (1/50).

It would be much easier to just head over to the main track to work or gallop as it is a stone’s throw from Clare Court to the main. But the Oklahoma is where Shisospicy trained last summer when D’Angelo was stabled there.

“She trained there every day last year and I like that track because it is a little deeper (than the main),” D’Angelo said. “It is a very good place for her to get fit.”

That worked out well because Shisospicy was the champion female sprinter of 2025 after she became the first 3-year-old filly to win the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. She also won the G2 Music City Stakes against 3-year-old fillies at Kentucky Downs.

Just as she did last year, D’Angelo is using Saratoga as a summer springboard to the fall. Shisospicy did not run here last year but trained here following a dismal 15th place finish in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

This year, Shisospicy was on the shelf early with an infection and, once she got back to training, she finished last in the GII Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 1, Kentucky Oaks Day. She came out of that race “very, very sick,” D’Angelo said, and that necessitated some time off at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky.

D’Angelo hopes another summer at the Spa propels her to another strong fall. Shisospicy’s next race could come in an allowance race at Churchill Downs in the middle of September to prepare her to defend her title at the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.

“She has been special since day one, she just does things different than other horses,” D’Angelo said. “We are not too far to get to the place we want to get with her. I am very happy with her progress.”

Shisospicy has won six of 10 career starts and has a second and a third. Her career earnings are $2,095,270.

“She is the kind of horse that makes you wake up earlier,” D’Angelo said,  “because you want to see her.”

He said it depends on “how she runs” but there are plans to run Shisospicy, owned by Morplay Racing LLC, next year. The long-range goal would be to make a trip to the Middle East, something that could not happen this year.

Twinkle Town on Track for the Hopeful

If his first two starts are any indication, the future is bright for the aptly named Twinkle Town (Take Charge Indy), a 2-year-old colt in the barn of Kenny McPeek.

Owned by Four G Racing, LLC, Twinkle Town has won both his starts by a combined 12 1/4 lengths, The most recent was the GII Saratoga Special Stakes on Aug. 1 when Twinkle Town and jockey Jose Ortiz came home a six-length winner in the 6 1/2-furlong race.

Twinkle Town in the paddock just prior to the Saratoga Special | Sarah Andrew

What looms on the horizon is the seven-furlong $300,000 GI Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 6, the final Sunday of the Saratoga meet.

“He has such early natural speed,” McPeek said outside his barn. “I do think he is a horse that wants to go longer. You can’t make a horse go :21 and :45 (seconds, the fractions Twinkle Town ran in the Saratoga Special), and that is certainly not in my style. He is just fast.”

Four G Racing is comprised of Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby III and Valley View Farm and they owned 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents), also trained by McPeek.

Twinkle Town is the nickname of Star City, a small rural town in Lincoln County in Arkansas where Gasaway lives. He, along with fiancé Bobbi Jo Harris, were in Saratoga for the Saratoga Special and are expected back for the Hopeful.

“They are on a bit of a roll,” McPeek said of Gasaway’s group, which also bred Twinkle Town. “It’s a tough game, but when you get a good horse, it’s a lot of fun.”

The group hopes the good times continue to roll in the Hopeful. After that, there is the Breeders’ Cup to think about that, and dare say, is it too early to start thinking about next spring?

“Well, not really,” McPeek said. “I think you can expect that, assuming he stays healthy, he will be competitive at a high level all fall. Next spring is another deal. We will have to retool him from a sprinter to a route of ground.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Casse Feeling Good about Silent Tactic as He Works Toward Travers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

HISA Authority and FTC Again Ask Supreme Court to Take Up ‘Outlier’ Constitutionality Opinion

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The Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have both petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to have another look at HISA’s constitutionality, specifically as it pertains to an opinion issued twice out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that ruled HISA’s rulemaking structure is constitutional, but its enforcement provisions are not.

The separate HISA Authority and FTC filings, dated last week but just docketed Aug. 17, were the expected next moves in an ongoing lawsuit that dates to 2021 and has already once resulted in the Supreme Court telling three lower appeals courts to re-examine earlier decisions in light of a similar case that the Supreme Court had ruled on in 2025.

The original litigation out of the Fifth Circuit was spearheaded five years ago by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) and 12 of its affiliates against the HISA Authority and the FTC.

For the better part of the last five years, both sides in this lawsuit–and in two similar federal cases challenging HISA that also reached the Supreme Court level but were remanded–have sparred over the non-delegation doctrine, which bans Congress from delegating legislative power to federal agencies without an “intelligible principle” to guide the exercise of agency discretion.

Three separate appeals courts–the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits–have all agreed that HISA’s rulemaking structure is constitutional. Only the Fifth Circuit has disagreed, in part, by consistently opining that HISA’s enforcement provisions are unconstitutional.

“All parties agree that the Fifth Circuit’s outlier judgment warrants review,” stated HISA’s Aug. 10, 2026 writ of certiorari, which is the formal term for asking the Supreme Court to take up a case. “Given the intractable conflict over the facial constitutionality of HISA’s enforcement provisions, only this Court can provide an authoritative nationwide ruling on that issue of legal and practical importance.”

The HISA petition continued: “Two administrations have supported HISA. Two bipartisan Congresses have embraced it, including through an amendment in late 2022 that fortified the FTC’s oversight. And all but one of the federal courts that have resolved an identical challenge to the amended statute have reached the same conclusion: HISA is constitutional.

“The Fifth Circuit contradicted that consensus, holding that HISA’s enforcement provisions facially violate the private-nondelegation doctrine. That decision–embracing the most extreme assumptions about the HISA regime, including hypothetical applications of provisions that have never been exercised–ignores this Court’s caution against wiping out broad swaths of federal legislation on a facial basis. It also disregards the many ways Congress purposefully subordinated the Authority’s implementation of HISA to the FTC’s substantial oversight.

“Moreover, the decision [issued June 11] brushes aside cautionary signals this Court already issued in this very case,” the HISA petition stated.

TDN emailed Eric Hamelback, the NHBPA’s chief executive officer, requesting comment on the HISA and FTC petitions to the Supreme Court. No reply was received prior to deadline for this story.

A year and a half ago, the three cases out of the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits had all been appealed up to the Supreme Court level.

Then, on June 30, 2025, the Supreme Court issued nearly identical “summary dispositions” for all three lawsuits involving the constitutionality of HISA, telling each respective appeals court that it wanted them to re-examine their rulings in light of a relevant decision the Supreme Court had just issued on June 27, 2025.

The new precedent that the Supreme Court told the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits to consider involved a case titled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vs. Consumers’ Research.

In that case, the Supreme Court justices, by a 6-3 vote, rejected arguments that the funding mechanism for a service that provides subsidized telecommunications services for low-income customers, rural hospitals, schools, and libraries violated the non-delegation doctrine. The Supreme Court also rejected a claim that the FCC delegated too much authority to a private company to administer the program.

The Sixth Circuit was the first to act on the Supreme Court’s remand in a case led by the states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana. On Dec. 17, 2025, the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of HISA for a second time.

Those states (plus a handful of other plaintiffs who first signed on to the original lawsuit back in 2021) have already asked the Supreme Court to re-examine that second Sixth Circuit constitutionality ruling, via a writ of certiorari dated May 15, 2026.

In it, the states and the other plaintiffs claim that the Sixth Circuit “erroneously” analyzed the application of the private non-delegation doctrine to the Act.

In the Eighth Circuit anti-HISA case, the plaintiffs are executives with the Arkansas and Iowa HBPA chapters.

That lawsuit involves a 2024 appeals court opinion that had affirmed a ruling out of a lower federal court in Arkansas denying a preliminary injunction the horsemen had sought to halt HISA and its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program.

Now approaching the 14-month mark since the Supreme Court remanded the case, the Eighth Circuit is the lone remaining appeals court yet to issue any revised HISA ruling. There have been no entries on that court’s docket for this case since June 17.

The post HISA Authority and FTC Again Ask Supreme Court to Take Up ‘Outlier’ Constitutionality Opinion appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Casse Feeling Good about Silent Tactic as He Works Toward Travers

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Honestly, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse didn’t know what he was going to get from Silent Tactic (Tacitus) when he sent him to the GII Jim Dandy Stakes on the first day of August.

It was his first race since March.

The colt had battled a foot problem all spring.

He was going up against two of the titans in the division in Renegade (Into Mischief) and Commandment (Into Mischief).

“I went into it thinking if we got beat eight lengths to those horses, it would be a good thing,” Casse said outside his barn at the Saratoga backstretch Wednesday morning. “Then, at about the eighth pole, I was thinking he might win this thing.”

Silent Tactic, owned by John Oxley and ridden by Luis Saez, did not win but he ran well, finishing third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Renegade and two lengths off Commandment.

Not a bad effort at all and now, it’s full speed ahead to the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes a week from Saturday.

Wednesday, Silent Tactic worked five furlongs in 1:01.34 (2/7) with Edwin Soto on his back. They worked in company with 4-year-old filly Nerazurri (Protonico) and Reynaldo Dumont. She is being pointed to the $500,000 GI Personal Ensign on Travers Day.

Silent Tactic is never going to blow anyone away with his morning works, but Casse liked what he saw from him Wednesday.

“I was going to breeze him a half and then I decided to go five-eighths because he is not exceptionally fast,” he said. “I wanted him to get a little blow and get something out of it. If you watched him work, you would think he is a $25,000 claimer.”

Before the Jim Dandy, Silent Tactic was last seen running second behind Renegade in the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn on March 28. Nagging problems with a foot knocked him out of the GI Kentucky Derby and then the GI Preakness Stakes.

Casse decided then to aim for a Saratoga summer campaign and here they are.

The bruised foot is behind them, and the Travers is in full view in front of them.

“I definitely came away from the Jim Dandy feeling the best I have ever felt about him,” Casse said. “I feel very good about him going into next week.”

It’s Always a Long Walk for Shisospicy

Every morning, Shisospicy (Mitole) takes a long walk to work.

The 4-year-old filly, trained by Jose D’Angelo, is led out of her stall at Clare Court and begins the journey to the Oklahoma Training Track, which is about a 20-minute walk. She is accompanied by exercise rider Jose Rivera and assistant trainer Angel Ayala and, when he’s here, D’Angelo.

Shisospicy in a recent work on the Oklahoma | Sarah Andrew

The trainer flies into Saratoga whenever Shisospicy works. He comes from wherever he happens to be with his other divisions– California, Florida, Kentucky or Virginia.

The ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ has had three works on the Oklahoma this summer, the most recent being Sunday when she went four furlongs in :47.95 (1/50).

It would be much easier to just head over to the main track to work or gallop as it is a stone’s throw from Clare Court to the main. But the Oklahoma is where Shisospicy trained last summer when D’Angelo was stabled there.

“She trained there every day last year and I like that track because it is a little deeper (than the main),” D’Angelo said. “It is a very good place for her to get fit.”

That worked out well because Shisospicy was the champion female sprinter of 2025 after she became the first 3-year-old filly to win the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. She also won the G2 Music City Stakes against 3-year-old fillies at Kentucky Downs.

Just as she did last year, D’Angelo is using Saratoga as a summer springboard to the fall. Shisospicy did not run here last year but trained here following a dismal 15th place finish in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

This year, Shisospicy was on the shelf early with an infection and, once she got back to training, she finished last in the GII Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 1, Kentucky Oaks Day. She came out of that race “very, very sick,” D’Angelo said, and that necessitated some time off at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky.

D’Angelo hopes another summer at the Spa propels her to another strong fall. Shisospicy’s next race could come in an allowance race at Churchill Downs in the middle of September to prepare her to defend her title at the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.

“She has been special since day one, she just does things different than other horses,” D’Angelo said. “We are not too far to get to the place we want to get with her. I am very happy with her progress.”

Shisospicy has won six of 10 career starts and has a second and a third. Her career earnings are $2,095,270.

“She is the kind of horse that makes you wake up earlier,” D’Angelo said,  “because you want to see her.”

He said it depends on “how she runs” but there are plans to run Shisospicy, owned by Morplay Racing LLC, next year. The long-range goal would be to make a trip to the Middle East, something that could not happen this year.

Twinkle Town on Track for the Hopeful

If his first two starts are any indication, the future is bright for the aptly named Twinkle Town (Take Charge Indy), a 2-year-old colt in the barn of Kenny McPeek.

Owned by Four G Racing, LLC, Twinkle Town has won both his starts by a combined 12 1/4 lengths, The most recent was the GII Saratoga Special Stakes on Aug. 1 when Twinkle Town and jockey Jose Ortiz came home a six-length winner in the 6 1/2-furlong race.

Twinkle Town in the paddock just prior to the Saratoga Special | Sarah Andrew

What looms on the horizon is the seven-furlong $300,000 GI Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 6, the final Sunday of the Saratoga meet.

“He has such early natural speed,” McPeek said outside his barn. “I do think he is a horse that wants to go longer. You can’t make a horse go :21 and :45 (seconds, the fractions Twinkle Town ran in the Saratoga Special), and that is certainly not in my style. He is just fast.”

Four G Racing is comprised of Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby III and Valley View Farm and they owned 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents), also trained by McPeek.

Twinkle Town is the nickname of Star City, a small rural town in Lincoln County in Arkansas where Gasaway lives. He, along with fiancé Bobbi Jo Harris, were in Saratoga for the Saratoga Special and are expected back for the Hopeful.

“They are on a bit of a roll,” McPeek said of Gasaway’s group, which also bred Twinkle Town. “It’s a tough game, but when you get a good horse, it’s a lot of fun.”

The group hopes the good times continue to roll in the Hopeful. After that, there is the Breeders’ Cup to think about that, and dare say, is it too early to start thinking about next spring?

“Well, not really,” McPeek said. “I think you can expect that, assuming he stays healthy, he will be competitive at a high level all fall. Next spring is another deal. We will have to retool him from a sprinter to a route of ground.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Casse Feeling Good about Silent Tactic as He Works Toward Travers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.