Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-476_dbfi.pdf
Page Number: 36

Cite as:  584 U. S. ____ (2018) 

1 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

Nos. 16–476 and 16–477 
_________________ 

16–476 

PHILIP D. MURPHY, GOVERNOR OF NEW 
JERSEY, ET AL., PETITIONERS 
v. 
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC 
ASSOCIATION, ET AL. 

16–477 

NEW JERSEY THOROUGHBRED HORSEMEN’S 
ASSOCIATION, INC., PETITIONER 
v. 
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC 
ASSOCIATION, ET AL. 

ON WRITS OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT 

[May 14, 2018] 

JUSTICE THOMAS, concurring. 
I  join  the  Court’s  opinion  in  its  entirety.    I  write  sepa-
rately,  however,  to  express  my  growing  discomfort  with
our modern severability precedents. 

I  agree  with  the  Court  that  the  Professional  and  Ama-
teur  Sports  Protection  Act  (PASPA)  exceeds  Congress’ 
Article  I  authority  to  the  extent  it  prohibits  New  Jersey
from  “authoriz[ing]”  or  “licens[ing]”  sports  gambling,  28
U. S. C.  §3702(1).    Unlike  the  dissent,  I  do  “doubt”  that 
Congress can prohibit sports gambling that does not cross
state  lines.  Post,  at  2  (opinion  of  GINSBURG,  J.);  see  Li-
cense Tax Cases, 5 Wall. 462, 470–471 (1867) (holding that 
Congress  has  “no  power”  to  regulate  “the  internal  com-
merce  or  domestic  trade  of  the  States,”  including  the
intrastate  sale  of  lottery  tickets);  United  States  v.  Lopez,