Sports Betting Case May Show Change of Heart on Federalism Doctrine

The more liberal justices’ silence in the court’s embrace of a strong federalism doctrine in the blockbuster sports betting case has some court watchers raising their eyebrows.

There was no dissent written about the Supreme Court’s understanding of the federalism doctrine known as anticommandeering in its May 14 decision on sports betting. Anticommandeering is the idea that the federal government can’t command the states to do its bidding.

The court has only examined the doctrine twice before—its 1992 decision in New York v. United States and Printz v. United States , which followed five years later.

Both times the doctrine ...