Although he says it’s now all done, Cooper admits he briefly worked on behalf of CSIG, which hired him in May to lobby DOJ officials for the cause. It\u2019s a move that may have backfired spectacularly for CSIG, which saw Sessions as potentially a key ally in its fight for prohibition.<\/p>\n
Now the AG has been forced to recuse himself from all discussions surrounding the legality of online gaming, according to DOJ spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores.<\/p>\n
CSIG, through the so-far-not-very-embraced Restoration of America\u2019s Wire Act (RAWA), wants the Department of Justice to overturn a 2011 opinion issued under the Obama administration, which stated the 1961 Wire Act forbade only sports betting over the internet, but not casino games or poker.<\/p>\n
This clarification paved the way for New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware to legalize and regulate online gaming within their borders, and for other states like California and Pennsylvania to battle out whether to join the fray or not.<\/p>\n
During his confirmation hearings earlier this year, Session\u2019s revealed sympathy for the CSIG cause, professing himself to have been stunned by the 2011 opinion and suggesting he would review it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would revisit it and I would make a decision about it based on careful study, and I haven\u2019t gone that far to give you an opinion today,\u201d he said at that time.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nCSIG\u2019s Latest Gambit<\/h2>\n RAWA is an unpopular piece of legislation in Washington, largely because of its disregard for states\u2019 rights. Having failed to gain traction in Congress, its supporters are now trying to sneak it through, reworded and slightly disguised, and attached to larger legislation.<\/p>\n
\n
In late June, Representative Charlie Dent (R-PA) attempted to insert RAWA-like language into the enormous, 1,000-page-plus spending bill that Congress must pass before the end of September. He and his cohort in the upper house, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), tried to pull the same action last year, but were thwarted in the House.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
With little appetite for RAWA in Congress, CSIG had hoped that Sessions, the man with the potential power to change the 2011 opinion, might oblige them. But as of now, if there is to be a DOJ review of the Wire Act at all, Sessions will not be partaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jeff Sessions, who once said he was “shocked” at the 2011 DOJ Wire Act reversal opinion, is taking a step out of the arena that could decide online gambling’s American fate. The United States Attorney General has admitted a conflict in his own hiring of friend and personal attorney Charles Cooper with being able to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":53723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,60,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
US AG Jeff Sessions Recuses Himself from 2011 DOJ Wire Act Talks<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n