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Text: Plaintiffs’ final exception is to the Special Master’s recommendation to deny their motion for summary judg­ ment, and to grant North Carolina’s cross-motion for summary judgment, on their claim that North Carolina violated the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing when it withdrew from the Compact in July 1999. Plain­ tiffs concede that North Carolina could withdraw from the Compact, but contend it could not do so in “bad faith.” And, they assert, its withdrawal after accepting $80 mil­ lion from the Commission, and with monetary sanctions pending against it, was the epitome of bad faith.

We have never held that an interstate compact approved by Congress includes an implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. Of course “[e]very contract imposes upon each party a duty of good faith and fair dealing in its performance and enforcement.” Restatement §205. But an interstate compact is not just a contract; it is a federal statute enacted by Congress. If courts were authorized to add a fairness requirement to the implementation of federal statutes, judges would be potent lawmakers in­ deed. We do not—we cannot—add provisions to a federal statute. See, e.g., Connecticut Nat. Bank v. Germain, 503 U. S. 249, 254 (1992). And in that regard a statute which is a valid interstate compact is no different. Texas v. New Mexico, 462 U. S., at 564, 565. We are especially reluctant to read absent terms into an interstate compact given the federalism and separation-of-powers concerns that would arise were we to rewrite an agreement among sovereign States, to which the political branches consented. As we have said before, we will not “ ‘order relief inconsistent with [the] express terms’ ” of a compact, “no matter what the equities of the circumstances might otherwise invite.” New Jersey v. New York, 523 U. S., at 811 (quoting Texas v. New Mexico, supra, at 564).

The Compact imposes no limitation on North Carolina’s exercise of its statutory right to withdraw. Under Article 7(G), which governed North Carolina’s withdrawal,4 “any party [S]tate may withdraw from the compact by enacting a law repealing the compact.” 99 Stat. 1879. There is no restriction upon a party State’s enactment of such a law, and nothing in the Compact suggests the parties under­ stood there were “certain purposes for which the expressly conferred power . . . could not be employed.” Tymshare, Inc. v. Covell, 727 F. 2d 1145, 1153 (CADC 1984) (opinion for the court by Scalia, J.). Moreover, Article 3 ensures that no such restrictions may be implied, since it provides that the Compact shall not be “construed to infringe upon, limit or abridge” the sovereign rights of a party State.

A comparison of the Compact with other, contemporane­ ously enacted, compacts confirms there is no such limita­ tion on North Carolina’s right to withdraw. See Texas v. New Mexico, supra, at 565. In contrast to the Compact, several other compacts concerning the creation of regional facilities for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste contain express good-faith limitations upon a State’s exercise of its rights. See, e.g., Central Compact, Art. III(f), 99 Stat. 1865; Central Midwest Compact, Art. V(a), id., at 1886; Midwest Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Compact, Art. V(a), id., at 1897.