The Supreme Court established the rules governing state compacts.

Although Virginia and Tennessee had agreed to a joint boundary based on an 1803 survey, this agreement had never been ratified by Congress, and as a result Virginia tried to have the survey results nullified. By an 8-0 vote, the Supreme Court held that Congress did not have to explicitly recognize every compact and had to ratify only those that ceded federal power to states. Justice Stephen J. Field,Field, Stephen J.;Virginia v. Tennessee[Virginia v. Tennessee] in his opinion for the Court, found that Congress had implicitly recognized the boundary in various indirect ways. Justice John Marshall Harlan did not participate.States’ rights;Virginia v. Tennessee[Virginia v. Tennessee]Interstate compacts;Virginia v. Tennessee[Virginia v. Tennessee]

Federalism

Interstate compacts

States’ rights and state sovereignty