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Jennifer Berrier, Acting Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry v. Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 20-1898 · judgment January 12, 2021


Certiorari denied · October 4, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 7% cert probability (95% interval 4%–11%)

Before the decision, about 1.6× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner and a Third Circuit decision below, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

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 all 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?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
John Bartley DeLone
Attorney General's Office

For respondent
John Carroll Connell
Archer & Greiner

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 04 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 04 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
  3. Jul 29 2021
    Reply of petitioner Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry filed. (Distributed)
  4. Jul 16 2021
    Brief of respondent Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission in opposition filed.
  5. Jun 11 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 19, 2021)