Justices to Decide Future of Mob Watchdog on Waterfront

June 21, 2022 by Dan McCue
Justices to Decide Future of Mob Watchdog on Waterfront
Cargo ships docked in Elizabeth, N.J., one of the ports under the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor’s control. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will try to resolve a dispute between New York and New Jersey over the latter’s desire to back out of a 1953 agreement to work together to combat corruption and racketeering on the waterfront docks the two states share.

Though, as is its custom, the court did not explain its rationale for taking the case, it has been involved in the litigation since April, when it temporarily blocked New Jersey’s departure from the agreement while it considered whether to hear the argument.

The Waterfront Commission has jurisdiction over all the region’s piers and terminals, including the ports in Newark, Elizabeth and Bayonne, New Jersey, as well as Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York.

It includes one member from each state appointed by its governor and one of its primary functions is to certify that those hired on the waterfront are not tied to organized crime and are otherwise fit to work in the shipping trade.

When it was created nearly 70 years ago, the Port of New York and New Jersey was a goon’s paradise, awash in racketeering, extortion, kickbacks on wages, gambling, loansharking, theft and shakedowns.

While some always maintained that the commission was a temporary agency, commissioners across the decades insisted there was nothing temporary about the compact that created their jobs.

Nor has the need for oversight ever slackened. As David Thompson, a commissioner from New Jersey observed in The New York Times in the early 1960s, “millions of people are affected by what happens on the waterfront; our interest is in the public interest.”

Spurred on by political pressure from the New York Shipping Association and in the International Longshoremen’s Association, whose members load and unload 100% of the containerized cargo that comes through the port as well as cars and other goods, the New Jersey Legislature has been trying to escape the compact for years.

According to a statement from the association, the “current bureaucratic structure of the Waterfront Commission does not support the needs of the port industry and region.”

“Frankly,” the association continues, “it is a structure built for gridlock and inertia as each state in this bi-state compact has one commissioner. Unfortunately, both commissioners must agree to make any substantive changes.”

It argues that given nearly 90% of the port’s activity occurs in New Jersey, it makes sense for the state “to take control of its own destiny and subsequent economic development by moving the oversight of the port’s workforce and the companies that employ them to the New Jersey State Police, a law enforcement entity with substantial resources and expertise.”

New Jersey lawmakers, many of whom get reliable donations from the association and longshoremen, voted to withdraw from the compact in 2018, and then-Gov. Chris Christie, overcoming concerns the move was unconstitutional, signed the bill as he left office.

The Waterfront Commission challenged the move in court, but its lawsuit was unsuccessful.

Then, in a wholly unexpected move in May, New York state petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing New Jersey’s lawmakers could not simply decide for themselves that they no longer wanted to honor their obligations under the bilateral agreement.

“New Jersey lacks the power to withdraw unilaterally from the compact or abolish the commission without New York’s consent,” New York said in a petition that ran into the hundreds of pages.

The petition also chided New Jersey for its failure to consider the impact the commission had on the fight against organized crime.

“Through geographical and historical happenstance, the boundary line between New York and New Jersey runs through the port, which operates as a unified whole. But the organized crime families and other corrupt enterprises that seek to exert influence on port operations do not respect state lines,” the petition said.

Fighting back, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin has argued that in order to justify its existence, the commission has “overregulated the port, stifling commerce and exacerbating worker shortages.”

Ending the commission, New York contends, “would likely increase the opportunities for individuals associated with organized crime families or other criminal enterprises to obtain access to waterfront employment at the port and use that employment for criminal activities.”

In a subsequent joint filing, the two states asked the court to grant certiorari and “resolve the core legal questions itself.”

“Because the commission, a bistate agency, exercises broad regulatory and law-enforcement authority within the borders of both states, New York and New Jersey share an interest in expeditiously resolving their dispute regarding its continued authority,” they wrote.

But New Jersey couldn’t resist getting in a jab in the process.

“In short, the Waterfront Commission compact’s plain text is silent as to withdrawal, and this court has repeatedly refused to construe silence in an interstate compact as stripping the states of their sovereign powers,” New Jersey wrote. “Member states retain a sovereign right to withdraw except when the compact says otherwise.”

New Jersey insists New York’s claims must fail, “as a matter of law.”

On Tuesday, the justices laid out several court deadlines for motions and responses by the parties extending through November 2022.

New Jersey now has until Aug. 22, 2022, to file an answer and motion for judgment on the pleadings; New York’s opposition and cross-motion for judgment on the pleadings are due on Oct. 21, 2022; New Jersey’s response to New York’s cross-motion and reply in support of its motion is due on or before Nov. 7, 2022; and New York’s reply in support of its cross-motion is due by Nov. 22, 2022.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue

A+
a-
  • Mafia
  • New Jersey
  • Supreme Court
  • Waterfront Commission
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Supreme Court

    Supreme Court Takes Up Religious Rights Dispute Over LGBTQ Books in Maryland Schools

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Tuesday over the religious rights of parents in Maryland to remove their... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Tuesday over the religious rights of parents in Maryland to remove their children from elementary school classes using storybooks with LGBTQ characters. The case is the latest dispute involving religion to come before the conservative-led court. The justices have... Read More

    April 21, 2025
    by Tom Ramstack
    Supreme Court Skeptical of Overriding Preventive Medical Tests in Obamacare

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is trying to decide whether to keep an Affordable Care Act provision that requires insurers... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is trying to decide whether to keep an Affordable Care Act provision that requires insurers to offer no-cost preventive care tests. The court heard arguments Monday on whether the procedure for deciding which tests can be included under the national insurance... Read More

    Supreme Court Says Trump Administration Must Work to Bring Back Mistakenly Deported Maryland Man

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal. The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had... Read More

    Supreme Court Takes Up $8B Phone and Internet Subsidy

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a major legal fight over the $8 billion a year the federal... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a major legal fight over the $8 billion a year the federal government spends to subsidize phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas, in a new test of federal regulatory power. The justices are reviewing an appellate ruling that... Read More

    March 24, 2025
    by Tom Ramstack
    Supreme Court Rejects Children’s Lawsuit Seeking Injunction Against Climate Change

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a lawsuit on behalf of children who said U.S.... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a lawsuit on behalf of children who said U.S. energy policies that exacerbate climate change are damaging their futures. They said unrestrained climate change jeopardized their life, liberty, personal security and health. The 9th Circuit... Read More

    March 21, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Supreme Court Set to Hear Two Major Cases Next Week

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to hear two of the major cases in its current term next week;... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to hear two of the major cases in its current term next week; one that will take a closer look at racial gerrymandering in Louisiana, the other considering federal court jurisdiction over Clean Air Act cases. The first hearing,... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top