Constitutionality issues on federal poker bill

11/22/2012 : REID KYL BILL FACES ANOTHER HURDLE
 
Constitutionality issues on federal poker bill may open it up to legal challenges
 
The determined efforts of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz on their proposed Federal Internet Poker Bill may face another obstacle following the tenuous possibility of its passage.
 
Former U.S. solicitor general Paul Clement says serious flaws in the bills constitutionality remain, opening up the possibility of court challenge's should the bill receive approval.
 
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Clement said in a five page memo sent to Reid and Kyl that segments of the bill that effectively penalise overseas providers, who operated games in the United States after 2006 when the UIGEA was passed, "raises serious due process concerns" as it spotlights a group without adequate protection for their rights.
 
"In my view, the 2012 act suffers from the exact same problems as the 2010 act, and in some instances, the 2012 act's constitutional infirmities are even more pronounced," Clement said in the memo.
 
The Reid-Kyl draft bill, in anticipation of constitutional challenges on certain provisions, contains a clause that ensures unchallenged provisions remain in effect.
 
While the Reid-Kyl bill seeks to federally legalise online poker, a quid pro quo of introducing a specific ban on internet gambling generally exists, with the exception of existing carve-outs for fantasy sports, horse racing and state lotteries.  The proposal has opt-out provisions for individual states that are against all forms of internet gambling.
 
Reid is attempting to push passage of the bill through Senate during the lame duck session of Congress.