HISA Issues Statement on Supreme Court Orders

June 30, 2025 (Lexington, KY) – The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) today issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions to grant, vacate, and remand the legal challenges to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (“the Act”), sending the cases back to the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Circuits to reconsider their rulings in light of the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in FCC v. Consumers’ Research issued on Friday, June 27.

“We are encouraged by the Supreme Court’s orders, which preserve the status quo and leave the Act undisturbed. HISA remains fully operational and will continue to be the national regulatory body overseeing safety and integrity in Thoroughbred racing while legal proceedings continue.

In today’s orders, the Supreme Court vacated the judgments of the appellate courts and returned the cases to those courts for further consideration. As a result, the sole adverse decision from the Fifth Circuit (which the Supreme Court had previously paused) is now off the books, and the opinions of the federal district courts – all of which upheld the Act’s constitutionality in full – remain valid and operative.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in FCC v. Consumers’ Research rejected a constitutional challenge under the private nondelegation doctrine. That ruling aligns with what every district court has already said in the HISA cases: the private nondelegation doctrine challenges against the Act have no merit.

Unless and until the Supreme Court agrees to hear these cases on the merits, HISA will continue to operate without disruption, providing national, uniform safety and integrity oversight for Thoroughbred racing. HISA is proud of the meaningful progress made since the launch of its Racetrack Safety and Anti-Doping and Medication Control Programs in 2023, including a meaningful year-over-year decline in racing fatalities, and remains committed to building on this momentum in partnership with the horse racing community.”

 

About the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority

When the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was signed into federal law, it charged the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) with proposing and enforcing uniform safety and integrity rules in Thoroughbred racing in the United States. Overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), HISA is implementing, for the first time, a uniform national set of rules applicable to every Thoroughbred racing participant and racetrack facility. HISA has two programs: the Racetrack Safety Program, which went into effect on July 1, 2022, and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which went into effect on May 22, 2023.

The Racetrack Safety Program includes operational safety rules and national racetrack accreditation standards that seek to enhance equine welfare and minimize equine and jockey injury. The Program expands veterinary oversight, imposes surface maintenance and testing requirements, enhances jockey safety, regulates riding crop use and implements voided claim rules, among other important measures.

The ADMC Program includes a centralized testing and results management process and applies uniform penalties for violations efficiently and consistently across the United States. These rules and enforcement mechanisms are initially administered by an independent body, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), established by Drug Free Sport International (DFS). HIWU oversees testing, educates stakeholders on the Program, accredits laboratories, investigates potential ADMC violations and penalizes any such violations, subject to the FTC’s plenary review.