Attacks on justice department legal opinion on Wire Act continue

The Washington DC newspaper The Hill reports that political attacks on online gambling continue, with news of a July 5 letter written to Attorney General Jeff Sessions by Virginia Democrat Sen. Mark Warner.

In the letter, Warner calls on Sessions to review the December 2011 opinon by the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel that the Wire Act 1961 applies only to sports betting…an important policy guide that did much to open up legalised online gambling possibilities for individual US states.

Warner uses some well-worn and much debunked Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling arguments in his letter, alleging that:

* Online gambling sites “are especially fertile platforms for the facilitation of money laundering, collusion and other illegal activities,” loosely citing FBI findings; and

* The potentially predatory nature of online gambling represents a heightened threat to economically vulnerable populations.

Recently Sessions agreed to recuse himself from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) review question after he hired as his personal lawyer Charles Cooper, who also lobbies for the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling.

Explaining his lobbying approach in seeking a review of the OLC opinion to Justice Department officials in a federal filing last month, Cooper said:

“There’s been a change in administrations, and that’s when fresh looks take place. This particular legal issue has certainly struck us as sufficiently questionable that it ought to be reconsidered.”

Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Flores later confirmed that Sessions would recuse himself from the OLC review issue as a result of his relationship with Cooper and the lawyer’s lobbying goals (see previous reports).

The Hill reports that in May this year two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein and well-known online gambling opponent Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, attempted to persuade Sessions to intervene and review the OLC’s 2011 opinion.

They urged the AG to “restore the department’s longstanding practice of enforcing the Wire Act against online gambling by revoking the opinion.”

During his AG confirmation hearings earlier this year Sessions appeared wary of the OLC opinion when interrogated by Sen Graham, calling the opinion “unusual” and pledging to consider the possibility of a review.

The Hill article follows recent news that Pennsylvania Republican Representative Charlie Dent is about to make another attempt to sneak Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) language into a large and unrelated must-pass spending bill (see previous report).

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/341446-lawmakers-press-sessions-over-online-gambling