In the 1960 case of Boynton v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public transportation is illegal under the Interstate Commerce Act. The plaintiff, Bruce Boynton, an African American law student at Howard University was arrested for trespassing when he refused to leave a "whites only" section of a bus terminal restaurant in Richmond, Virginia. He challenged his conviction arguing it violated his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and also contravened federal laws governing interstate commerce. The court agreed with him and overturned his conviction by a 7-2 vote margin stating that racial segregation in public transportation amounted to undue burden on interstate commerce and thus was unconstitutional.

In the dissenting opinion for Boynton v. Virginia, Justice Whittaker argued that while he agreed with the Court's interpretation of the Interstate Commerce Act as prohibiting racial discrimination in terminal restaurants, he disagreed with their decision to reverse Boynton's conviction. He contended that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Boynton had been refused service due solely to his race rather than his refusal to leave upon being asked by a restaurant employee. Furthermore, Whittaker asserted that even if such evidence existed, it would not necessarily mean that Virginia law was incompatible with federal law or unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment since states have a right and duty to maintain peace and order within their boundaries. Therefore, according to him, unless Congress explicitly stated otherwise in its legislation (which it hadn't), state laws should be presumed valid until proven otherwise.