The U.S. is presently a country with deep political divisions, which are distributed in part geographically. One possible resolution is a split into multiple nations; this idea was firmly refuted by the Civil War.
However, another possible solution is to form additional new governments out of existing states. This would be a governmental layer above the state layer but below the federal layer. These super-states would represent multi-state regions of more closely aligned political views.
The constituent states would cede some of their authority to these super-state governments, which would then be empowered within their borders to collect taxes, write and enforce laws, etc. However, neither the states nor the super-states would deny the authority of the Federal government. The super-states would not be nations, would not form treaties with other nations, and would leave all international policy to the Federal level. They would also defer to Federal law when applicable, e.g. the commerce clause.
The benefits of super-states would be similar to the domestic benefits of the federal government, but at a smaller scale. For example, rather than each state individually setting entitlement/ education/ health/ energy/ environment policy (which has high administrative costs due to duplication), or each state trusting the federal government to do so (which is likely to displease a lot of states due to political divisions), the super-states can set the policy for their constituent like-minded states.
My question is this. Does the U.S. Constitution or existing legal precedent prevent the establishment of such super-states? That is, do states have the authority to transfer their own rights?