Tag Archives: Interstate Compacts

Myth of the Week: Intestate Compacts are Exotic and Fishy

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The National Popular Vote Plan is an interstate Compact. This means that participating states voluntarily agree to enter into a legally enforceable compact.

This is not a new concept in America. In fact, compacts were part of the nation’s fabric even before the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (the precursor to the U.S. Constitution), four interstate compacts were established.

In 1859, The U.S. Supreme Court in Petty v. Tennessee-Missouri Bridge Combination affirmed that “compact is after all, a contract.” Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution asserts: No state shall . . . pass any . . . Law impairing the obligation of contracts.” Accordingly, these contracts are legally binding on states.

Numerous Interstate Compacts are currently enforced. Examples include the Potomac Valley Compact, the Snake River Compact, and the Kansas-Missouri Flood Prevention Control Compact.

The Council of State Governments asserts: “Once enacted, compacts may not be unilaterally renounced by a member state, except as provided by the compacts themselves. Moreover, Congress and the courts can compel compliance with the terms of interstate compacts.”

Accordingly, interstate compacts are anything but exotic and fishy. Interstate compacts are not uncommon, and are Constitutionally permissible.

Myth of the Week: A Federal Constitutional Amendment is a Superior Way to Change the System rather than an Interstate Compact

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There have been over 700 proposed Amendments introduced in the U.S. Congress to abolish or alter the Electoral College. No other issue has had as many proposed Constitutional Amendments. None, however, has become the law of the land. Passing a Constitutional Amendment is a Herculean task. In fact, since the Constitution and the first ten amendments (the Bill of Rights) took effect in 1789, only seventeen Amendments have passed.

For an amendment to be put into law, it must pass both houses of the U.S. Congress by at least a 2/3 vote, or by a Constitutional Convention of at least two-thirds of the states. It must then receive the green light from three-fourths of the states, or three-fourths of the states at the Constitutional Convention.

There have been over 11,000 Constitutional Amendment proposed on everything from child labor to school prayer. Only 23 have passed the U.S. Congress and were sent to the states.

Finally, it makes little sense to amend the Constitution when the document already explicitly allows the states to allocate their electoral votes in any manner they see fit. Article 11 Section 1 Clause 11 of the Constitution states: “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors.”