The Supreme Court hears the dispute between New York and New Jersey

The Supreme Court on Wednesday is hearing a dispute between New York and New Jersey over New Jersey’s desire to withdraw from a commission the states created decades ago to fight mob influence in their joint port.

The New York Harbor Shoreline Commission was created in 1953 when a mob infiltrated the port and demanded payment from workers and shippers through extortion and violence. A two-man commission—one commissioner from each state—oversees licensing and inspection at the ports of New York and New Jersey and has its own police force.

New Jersey lawmakers say changes in the industry, including the development of container shipping, have reduced the impact of organized crime in the port and reduced the need for a commission. The state says the commission has become “an obstacle to economic growth.”

In 2018, then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, signed into law his state’s withdrawal from the treaty. Ultimately, however, New York took the issue to the Supreme Court, which hears interstate disputes.

The wording of the treaty establishing the commission does not specifically address whether any state can decide on its own to withdraw. But New Jersey contends, among other things, that “mere silence about withdrawing does not give one state a reason to hold another hostage to a treaty forever.” The notes submitted to the court also state that the commission was intended to be temporary.

New Jersey has the support of the Biden administration, which told the court that the text of the treaty suggests that any state can withdraw from it on its own.

New York claims that when the treaty was written, the states “intended to prohibit unilateral termination, not to permit it.”

The public can listen to arguments in the case live on the Supreme Court website starting at 10:00 am.