Puerto Rico Cockfighting Clubs Lose Bid to Halt Federal Ban

A federal ban on Puerto Rico’s “national sport” of cockfighting is set to take effect in December despite island-wide opposition to the law, after a District of Puerto Rico judge refused to block it.

The cockfighting ban passed last year as part of the annual Agriculture Improvement Act, commonly known as the federal “farm bill.” The lawsuit blasted it as a paternalistic, unconstitutional assault on a cherished tradition and “cultural right of all Puerto Ricans.” The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Unfair stigmas and stereotypes of cockfighting as an “illegal and dangerous sport, played primarily by thieves and minorities,” are behind the ban, according to the suit filed by two cockfighting clubs. Cockfighting is heavily regulated, with weight classes and professional judges authorized to stop one-sided fights, the plaintiffs claimed.

There’s also no basis for Congress to regulate Puerto Rico as a state rather than a territory under the Constitution’s “territorial clause,” the suit alleged.

Judge Gustavo A. Gelpi rejected those claims Oct. 28, granting summary judgment to the federal government. The ban can go into effect despite near-unanimous opposition from top Puerto Rico officials, many of whom filed amicus briefs, the judge said.

“Congress has the unquestionable authority to treat the commonwealth equally to the states,” Gelpi wrote. “Neither the commonwealth’s political status, nor the territorial clause, impede the United States government from enacting laws that apply to all citizens of this nation alike, whether in a state or territory.”

Cockfighting was already illegal in every state and territory except Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin islands, the judge noted. Congress has incrementally moved to outlaw it nationwide, allowing a complex series of exemptions, grandfather clauses, and loopholes that have closed over time, culminating in the pending federal ban.

While Congress may lack the power to single out Puerto Rico in certain cases, it “has the undeniable authority to treat the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico uniformly to the states,” Gelpi said.

The plaintiffs were represented by Félix Román & Associates and Ojeda & Ojeda Law Offices PSC. The government was represented by the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.

The case is Club Gallistico de Puerto Rico Inc. v. U.S., D.P.R., No. 19-cv-1481, 10/28/19.