The case of Adams et al. v. Tanner, Attorney General of the State of Washington, et al., revolved around a dispute over a Washington state law that prohibited private employment agencies from charging job seekers for their services. The plaintiffs in this case were employment agents who argued that the law violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights to conduct business freely and without undue interference from the government. However, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of this legislation on grounds that it was within states' police power to regulate businesses affecting public welfare and morals - including labor conditions and practices - even if such regulation interfered with individual property or contract rights under certain circumstances. This decision thus affirmed states' authority to enact laws protecting workers against potential exploitation by private employment agencies.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Adams et al. v. Tanner, Attorney General of the State of Washington, et al., was penned by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who disagreed with the majority's decision to strike down a Washington state law regulating business practices of employment agencies. He argued that it is not within the purview of courts to decide on economic policy or determine what constitutes a proper profession; these are decisions for legislatures and citizens respectively. Holmes further contended that if an occupation becomes harmful to society at large, then states have every right to regulate or even prohibit such professions under their police powers without violating constitutional rights. The justice also criticized his colleagues' reliance on Lochner-era jurisprudence which he believed had been wrongly decided as it gave too much weightage towards freedom-of-contract principles over state regulatory power aimed at protecting public welfare.