Jennifer Berrier, Acting Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry v. Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Takings Securities LaborRelations Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Do compacting States, simply by creating an interstate compact, relinquish all sovereign authority over that compact entity unless expressly reserved?
QUESTION PRESENTED Under the Compact Clause of the Constitution, the States may contract with each other to cooperatively address issues of mutual concern. U.S. CONST., Art. I, § 10, cl. 3. In 1934, Pennsylvania and New Jersey entered into an interstate compact to construct bridges across the Delaware River and created the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held _ that Pennsylvania relinquished a// sovereign authority over that Commission merely by entering into the compact. The question presented is: Do compacting States, simply by creating an interstate compact, relinquish all sovereign authority over that compact entity unless expressly reserved?