NY Asks Supreme Court To Stop NJ From Leaving Port Agency

NEW YORK — The state of New York this week asked the nation's highest court to block New Jersey from exiting the commission tasked with fighting mob control and corruption in one of the nation’s largest ports.

In the filing, New York officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop New Jersey from withdrawing from the decades-old Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, NJ.com reported. The commission was established in a pact between the two states.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced earlier this month that New Jersey would leave the agency in "just under four weeks," a response to a tense standoff between New Jersey officials and the agency.

In the filing, New York officials said New Jersey lawmakers "lack the power" to no longer honor the obligations outlined in the pact.

The filing also claims that New Jersey’s actions "will not only irreparably harm New York’s sovereign interests but will also likely upend security and stability at the East Coast’s largest port — which has operated as a unified whole for over six decades."

The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor was formed in the 1950s to combat entrenched organized crime influences at the ports. In recent years, however, New Jersey officials have claimed that organized crime has largely been driven out of the ports and that the commission was impeding job growth by over-regulating businesses there and making hiring more difficult.

In 2018, then-New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation withdrawing New Jersey from the commission. A federal judge blocked the attempt in 2019, writing that both states would have to agree to any changes or amendments to their agreements and that corruption was still evident at the ports. But an appeals court disagreed last year and wrote that the commission’s lawsuit should be dismissed because New Jersey was protected by sovereign immunity.

A spokesman for Murphy told NJ.com the state will fight the lawsuit.

"New Jersey welcomes the opportunity to vigorously defend its law withdrawing the state from the Waterfront Commission, which has long outlived its usefulness and does not fairly represent New Jersey’s interests," Michael Zhadanovsky, the governor’s spokesman, told NJ.com. "We are hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will reject this last-ditch and last-minute effort to prevent the New Jersey State Police from assuming enforcement authority at the port on March 28."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.