Off the Waterfront | New Jersey Law Journal - Law.com

New Jersey has been granted federal judicial permission to withdraw from the Waterfront Commission, the New York/New Jersey agency responsible for fighting organized crime and corruption in the region’s ports and harbors since 1953. The compact (codified in New Jersey at N.J.S.A. §32:23-1 et seq.) enabled both states to regulate the hiring, licensing, and management of longshoremen, stevedores, and other port workers by an agency that was independent of the states’ respective police departments.

In 2018, the Legislature repealed the compact and required the governor to notify Congress, the governor of New York, and the commission of the state’s intent to withdraw. (As a compact between two states, congressional approval was required under the Compacts Clause (U.S. Cont. Article I, § 10.)) The commission immediately brought suit against Gov. Phil Murphy seeking to enjoin him from issuing the notice required by the repeal. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the injunction, and the governor’s office appealed the ruling. In reversing the district court, the Third Circuit held that the state of New Jersey, not its governor, was the real party in interest and that since sovereign immunity barred suit against New Jersey, the commission could not obtain the relief it sought.

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source: https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2021/12/19/off-the-waterfront/

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