Case 2:25-cv-00978-APG-BNW Document 105 Filed 10/14/25 Page 9 of 27
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Under the Supremacy Clause, “state laws that conflict with federal law are without effect,” meaning they are preempted by federal law. Altria Grp., Inc. v. Good , 555 U.S. 70, 76 (2008) (simplified). The “ultimate touchstone” in preemption analysis is congressional purpose. Id. (quotation omitted). “Congress may indicate pre-emptive intent through a statute’s express language or through its structure and purpose.” Id. Absent an express preemption clause, federal law may preempt state law where Congress has occupied the field or where state laws conflict with federal law. Field preemption occurs when it “can be inferred from a framework of regulation so pervasive that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it or where there is a federal interest so dominant that the federal system will be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the same subject.” Arizona v. United States , 567 U.S. 387, 399 (2012) (simplified). Conflict preemption occurs when “compliance with both federal and state regulations is a physical impossibility,” or “where the challenged state law stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.” Id. (quotation omitted). I assume that the States’ “historic police powers” are not preempted “unless that was Congress’s “clear and manifest purpose.” Id. at 400. Regulation of gambling has long been considered to “lie at the heart of the state’s police power.” Artichoke Joe’s California Grand Casino v. Norton , 353 F.3d 712, 740 (9th Cir. 2003) (quotation omitted). I begin with the “plain meaning of [the CEA’s] language.” United States v. Lillard , 935 F.3d 827, 833 (9th Cir. 2019). Title 7 U.S.C. § 2(a)(1)(A) provides: The Commission [CFTC] shall have exclusive jurisdiction . . . with respect to accounts, agreements . . ., and transactions involving swaps or contracts of sale of a commodity for future delivery . . ., traded or executed on a contract market designated pursuant to section 7 of this title . . . . Except as hereinabove provided, nothing contained in this section shall (I) supersede or limit the jurisdiction at any time conferred on the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory
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