In the case of Appleby et al. v. Delaney, Commissioner (1925), the plaintiffs were owners and operators of a ferry service between New York and New Jersey who sought to prevent enforcement of an order by the Interstate Commerce Commission that would require them to file annual reports with the commission as well as adhere to its regulations regarding accounts, records, and memoranda. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Delaney, upholding that such regulation was within Congress's power under the commerce clause because it had jurisdiction over navigation on waters forming a continuous highway for interstate trade or travel. Therefore, even though ferries operated wholly within one state but carried passengers traveling from one state to another could be regulated by federal law.

In the dissenting opinion for Appleby et al. v. Delaney, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a New York law prohibiting non-citizens from owning or leasing land for more than five years violated both the Fourteenth Amendment and international treaties between the U.S. and other countries guaranteeing equal property rights to citizens of those nations residing in America. The dissent contended that this law unjustly discriminated against foreigners by denying them basic property rights solely based on their citizenship status, which is contrary to principles of equality under American constitutional law as well as international agreements promising reciprocal treatment of foreign nationals' property rights in each country involved.