Puerto Rico Asks Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Cockfighting Ban

Puerto Rico Asks Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Cockfighting Ban
A rooster rests on the limb of a tree in Key West, Fla. on Feb. 16, 2013. Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
Matthew Vadum
Updated:

Puerto Rico has asked the Supreme Court to consider whether Congress in 2018 had authority under the U.S. Constitution to ban the sport of cockfighting in the territory after appeals courts upheld the ban.

Cockfighting has been practiced on the island for 400 years and is recognized by Puerto Rican law to be a “cultural right of all Puerto Ricans.”