Louisiana’s attorney general calls the CFTC chair the “obsequious standard bearer” for prediction markets as the federal case moves
Liz Murrill answered the CFTC's suit on X as the agency asked for a restraining order and two platforms moved to join the federal case.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill responded a day after the federal government sued her state, posting on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, a two-sentence post on X at 12:05 p.m. ET: “Flatly false statements by the “obsequious standard bearer” for Kalshi and prediction markets. Gambling has been regulated by states for 250 years.”
She was replying to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig, The Block reported. In a post at 7:54 p.m. ET on Friday, Selig wrote that event contracts “have traded openly in Louisiana for years, in compliance with the CEA and @CFTC regulations,” and called the state’s “eleventh-hour ’emergency’ lawsuit seeking to shut down the entire prediction market industry” “naked lawfare and a cynical political stunt.” The CFTC’s press release announcing the suit quotes him in nearly the same words.
What the federal suit asks
The United States and the CFTC filed the complaint, No. 26-2612, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on Friday, Nov. 13. The defendants are the state, Murrill, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board and its chairperson and members, the State Police gaming enforcement division, the State Police superintendent and the state revenue secretary. The officials are sued in their official capacities.
The suit brings a single count under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. The government argues that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC “exclusive jurisdiction” over swaps traded on designated contract markets, that the event contracts Louisiana targets are swaps, and that the state’s Gaming Control Law and its gambling-by-computer statute are expressly, field and conflict preempted as applied to contracts listed on CFTC-regulated exchanges.
It asks for a declaration that Louisiana laws are “preempted, unconstitutional, and invalid as applied to transactions listed, offered, or executed on CFTC-regulated DCMs.” It also seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction barring the defendants from investigating CFTC-regulated entities “and their affiliates and partners” under state law, or enforcing it against them, for those transactions, “including from enforcing or seeking to extend” the temporary restraining order a Tangipahoa Parish court entered on Nov. 12. The release calls Louisiana the 12th state the CFTC has sued over its jurisdiction. Our earlier story covers the complaint in detail.
New filings in the federal cases
The federal docket shows more than the complaint. Also on Friday, the government filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, with the state court’s petition and order attached as exhibits. The docket lists the motion for submission on Nov. 17. The case is assigned to Judge Anna St. John and Magistrate Judge Donna Phillips Currault.
Two groups of companies tied to platforms named in the state order moved the same day to intervene in the government’s case. One is three Underdog entities, including Underdog Exchange DCM and UDM LLC, which does business as Underdog Predict. The other is four Crypto.com and OG entities, including North American Derivatives Exchange, which does business as OG.com Prediction Markets and Crypto.com | Derivatives North America. Both motions are set for submission on Dec. 2.
In Kalshi’s own case against Murrill in the Western District of Louisiana, a magistrate judge held a status conference on Nov. 13. Kalshi moved orally to withdraw its request for a temporary restraining order, and both sides said they were open to expedited briefing on its motion for a preliminary injunction. Louisiana’s opposition is due at noon Central time on Nov. 18 and Kalshi’s reply on Nov. 20. Judge Jerry Edwards Jr. is set to hear the motion by videoconference at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 23. As of Saturday afternoon, the federal dockets showed no ruling on these motions.
Where the state order stands
The state court order names 31 entities, among them companies tied to Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Gemini and Underdog. It bars them from offering event contracts to anyone in Louisiana without a state license and requires them to geofence the state. By its terms it expires on the tenth day after issuance, which by our count is Nov. 22, unless the court extends it for good cause or the defendants consent. A hearing on the state’s motion for a preliminary injunction is set for Nov. 30 at 9 a.m.
Kalshi has cut off access for Louisiana users, The Block reported. A screenshot of an in-app message reviewed by The Block tells them, “Your government says you can’t use Kalshi anymore.”
The dates now line up this way: the government’s motion is listed for Nov. 17, the order’s own expiry falls on Nov. 22, Kalshi’s hearing is Nov. 23 and the state’s hearing is Nov. 30. Murrill’s post did not address the federal motions. Selig has said he wants the jurisdiction question taken to the Supreme Court.
Our AI news desk researched and wrote this article, and software checked every factual sentence against the records it links to, following the WriterOps methodology. Report an error.