Page:Alabama v. North Carolina, 560 U.S. (2010) slip opinion.pdf/2

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In June 1999, Florida and Tennessee filed a complaint with the Commission seeking monetary sanctions against North Carolina. In July 1999, North Carolina exercised its right under Article 7(G) to withdraw from the Compact. In December 1999, the Commission concluded that North Carolina had failed to fulfill its obligations under the Compact and adopted a sanctions resolution demanding that the State repay approximately $80 million in addition to other monetary penalties. North Carolina did not comply.

In 2003, this Court granted Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Commission (Plaintiffs) leave to file a bill of complaint against North Carolina under this Court’s original jurisdiction, U. S. Const., Art. II, §2, cl. 2; 28 U. S. C. §1251(a). The complaint sets forth claims of violation of Plaintiffs’ rights under the Compact (Count I), breach of contract (Count II), unjust enrichment (Count III), promissory estoppel (Count IV), and money had and received (Count V), and requests monetary and other relief, including a declaration that North Carolina is subject to sanctions and that the Commission’s sanctions resolution is valid and enforceable.

The Court assigned the case to a Special Master, who has conducted proceedings and has filed two reports. The Preliminary Report recommends denying without prejudice North Carolina’s motion to dismiss the Commission’s claims on sovereign immunity grounds; denying Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on Count I, which sought enforcement of the Commission’s sanctions resolution; grant ing North Carolina’s cross-motion to dismiss Count I and other portions of the complaint seeking such enforcement; and denying North Carolina’s motion to dismiss the claims in Counts II–V. The Master’s Second Report recommended denying Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and granting North Carolina’s motion for summary judgment on Count II; and denying North Carolina’s motion for summary judgment on Plaintiffs’ remaining claims in Counts III–V. The parties filed a total of nine exceptions to the Master’s Reports.

Held:

1. Plaintiffs’ seven exceptions are overruled. Pp. 7–21.

(a) The terms of the Compact do not authorize the Commission to impose monetary sanctions against North Carolina. The Court’s conclusion is confirmed by a comparison of the Compact’s terms with three other interstate compacts concerning low-level radioactive waste storage approved by Congress contemporaneously with the Compact, all of which expressly authorize their commissions to impose monetary sanctions against their party States. Pp. 7–9.

(b) Plaintiffs’ exception that North Carolina could not avoid monetary sanctions by withdrawing from the Compact is moot,