Interstate compacts require Congressional action
Zimmerman, 12 [Joseph F., Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Albany, State University of New York, Interstat, Water Compacts: Intergovernmental Efforts to Manage America’s Water Resources, ebook accessed through UMich library, Corrigan]
The drafters of the U.S. Constitution decided the substance of Article VI of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, requiring congressional consent for states to enter into compacts with sister states and foreign nations, should be incorporated into Section 10 of Article I of the proposed U.S. Constitution. The consent specifically is designed to safeguard the interests of the national government, but also may protect the interests of nonparty states. Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1833 noted: “If these compacts are with foreign nations, they interfere with the treaty-making power, which is conferred entirely on the general government; if with each other, for political purposes, they can scarcely fail to interfere with the general purpose and intent of the constitution.”29 This opinion allows opponents of a proposed compact to use the compact clause, in a manner similar to the dormant interstate commerce clause, to challenge the constitutionality of a compact lacking congressional consent.