Opinion of the Court
Laws p. 1511; 1953 N. Y. Laws p. 2417. New York and New Jersey obtained Congress’s approval of the Compact in 1953, consistent with the Compact Clause of the Constitution. President Eisenhower signed the Compact. See 67 Stat. 541; U. S. Const., Art. I, §10, cl. 3.
The Compact established a bistate agency known as the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. The Commission consists of two members, one appointed by the Governor of New York and the other by the Governor of New Jersey. Through the Compact, New York and New Jersey delegated to the Commission their sovereign authority to conduct regulatory and law-enforcement activities at the Port. For example, the Compact authorizes the Commission to oversee mandatory employment licensing for waterfront workers and to conduct law-enforcement investigations at the Port.
Under the Compact, New York and New Jersey must agree if they want to make any “[a]mendments and supplements.” Art. XVI(1), 67 Stat. 557. The Compact also recognizes Congress’s authority to “alter, amend, or repeal” the Compact. Art. XVI, §2, ibid. But the Compact does not address each State’s power to unilaterally withdraw: It neither expressly allows nor expressly proscribes unilateral withdrawal.
The Compact and Commission have operated for 70 years. But as the decades have passed, circumstances at the Port have changed. In 1953, roughly 70% of waterfront employees worked on the New York side of the Port. But by 2018, according to New Jersey, more than 80% of work hours occurred on the New Jersey side, and more than 80% of the Port’s cargo flowed through the New Jersey side. New Jersey also came to view the Commission as ill-equipped to handle 21st-century security challenges and as a source of overregulation that impedes job growth.
In 2018, the New Jersey Legislature passed and Governor Christie signed a law to withdraw New Jersey
