---
type: source
title: "Federal Judge Blocks Arizona AG from Prosecuting Kalshi, Says It Violates the Constitution"
author: "Arizona Mirror"
url: https://azmirror.com/briefs/federal-judge-blocks-arizona-ag-from-prosecuting-kalshi-says-it-violates-the-constitution/
date: 2026-04-10
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
processed_by: rio
processed_date: 2026-04-20
priority: high
tags: [kalshi, arizona, tro, cftc, constitutional, supremacy-clause, preemption, criminal-prosecution]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

A federal judge granted the CFTC's request for a Temporary Restraining Order blocking the Arizona Attorney General from pursuing criminal charges against Kalshi and other DCMs. The court ruled that state criminal prosecution of CFTC-registered platforms violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The TRO finding: the CFTC "demonstrated a reasonable chance of success in showing that the (Commodity Exchange) Act, at a minimum, field preempts Arizona law."

This is a federal court blocking a STATE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION — a rare and significant intervention. It signals that at least one federal district court views the preemption question as favoring the CFTC with sufficient confidence to issue emergency injunctive relief.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** A TRO blocking CRIMINAL prosecution is categorically different from civil regulatory disputes. The "reasonable chance of success" finding is a threshold judicial determination — the court looked at the law and found the preemption argument likely to succeed. While TROs can be reversed, the constitutional framing (Supremacy Clause violation) is durable.

**What surprised me:** Arizona had criminal charges pending against Kalshi. Session 21 tracked the Arizona criminal case as a risk factor; the TRO resolves that immediate risk. The CFTC's willingness to use the Supremacy Clause argument (not just statutory preemption) is more aggressive than expected.

**What I expected but didn't find:** The specific conduct Arizona was criminally prosecuting. The criminal charges framing suggests Arizona was treating prediction market trading as illegal gambling — a much more aggressive state posture than civil C&D letters.

**KB connections:** "Ooki DAO proved that DAOs without legal wrappers face general partnership liability making entity structure a prerequisite for any futarchy-governed vehicle" — the inverse applies here: having proper federal registration (DCM status) now actively PROTECTS against state criminal prosecution via Supremacy Clause.

**Extraction hints:** New claim candidate: "CFTC-registered DCMs are now protected from state criminal prosecution by a federal TRO invoking the Supremacy Clause, creating a qualitative distinction between federally registered prediction market platforms and unregistered alternatives." Also: entity wrapping with DCM registration is now confirmed as providing criminal prosecution immunity — a stronger protection than previously analyzed.

**Context:** April 10 TRO came 8 days after the April 2 CFTC complaint. Fast federal action suggests CFTC had filed everything ready to move immediately — this was coordinated, not reactive.

## Curator Notes

PRIMARY CONNECTION: "futarchy-based fundraising creates regulatory separation because there are no beneficial owners and investment decisions emerge from market forces not centralized control"
WHY ARCHIVED: The criminal prosecution + Supremacy Clause dimension is qualitatively different from civil regulation — this is the strongest regulatory protection mechanism for DCMs discovered to date
EXTRACTION HINT: Explicitly note the scope: this protection applies ONLY to DCM-registered platforms; MetaDAO and other on-chain futarchy platforms without DCM registration remain unprotected by this Supremacy Clause argument
