In 1953, the Waterfront Commission of New York and New Jersey was established pursuant to a bi-state compact between those states. The purpose was to address and eliminate rampant corruption on the waterfront. (depicted fictionally but realistically in the movie “On the Waterfront”). Several years ago, New Jersey enacted legislation to eliminate the commission and withdraw from the compact on the ground that the conditions that necessitated its creation no longer existed and that presently the commission was impeding the shipping industry’s ability to operate and control hiring of dock workers.
In response to the legislation, the commission went to federal court and obtained a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the legislation. Judge Wigenton’s initial opinion found that the conditions that gave rise to the commission still existed, both the presence of organized crime and the persistence of racial discrimination in waterfront employment. She ultimately granted summary judgment, concluding as a matter of law that the bi-state compact, having been approved by Congress, was federal law, that the terms of the compact did not permit one member state to withdraw unilaterally, and that New Jersey’s attempt to withdraw by statute was therefore an unconstitutional violation of the Supremacy Clause.
