Jeffrey Litwak (Lewis & Clark Law School – Paul L Boley Law Library), Graham St. Michel, & William Currell (Lewis & Clark College – Lewis & Clark Law School) have posted Developments in Interstate Compact Law and Practice 2025 on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article discusses the wide range of judicial, administrative, and legislative developments in interstate compact law in 2025. This article examines reported and unreported cases, as both show how courts apply or distinguish principles of compact law, and enacted and unenacted bills, as both illustrate policy conversations involving interstate compacts. Discussions of many cases, agency actions, and legislative actions present principles of law, administrative and legislative context associated with the reported developments, and citations for further reading. Highlights of litigation in 2025 included a question whether the party states to a compact were necessary parties under FRCP 19 where the case involved the interpretation of a compact; a non-compact case that questions elements of the analytical framework developed through compact case law, which could affect compact agencies; a significant dissent questioning the constitutionality of applying the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children to parents; the usual array of cases that analyze a potential conflict between state law and an interstate compact; the need for courts to provide more complete context when employing a usage of trade analysis when interpreting compacts; and several model cases employing other interpretive techniques. There were few administrative developments that we believe provide lessons for states, and other compact agencies. We highlighted the recently developed practice of compact agencies ensuring that new member states have enacted the substantially similar text as the existing states; subtle but important differences in requirements for two compact agencies for considering state transparency laws; and complex procedures required for a compact agency to delegate certain decisions to its staff, while the compact prescribes voting requirements for actions by the governing body. Finally, for legislative developments, we highlight for the second time, a federal bill that would permit states to share the result of a FBI background check with professional licensing compact commissions, and state bills and enacted legislation involving interstate cooperation in maintaining accurate voter rolls and energy development and transmission.