In the case of Buck et al. v. California, 1951, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving property taxes in California. The plaintiffs were homeowners who argued that their properties had been unfairly assessed at full cash value while other types of property (such as oil and gas reserves) were not similarly valued for tax purposes, thus violating equal protection under law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. However, the court upheld California's taxation system with a 5-4 majority vote stating that it did not violate constitutional rights or principles of equality in taxation because different kinds of properties require different methods for determining market values due to their unique characteristics and circumstances surrounding them such as location and potential profitability among others.

In the dissenting opinion for Buck et al. v. California, Justice Douglas argued that the majority's decision to uphold a tax on veterans who were not residents of California at the time they entered military service was discriminatory and unconstitutional. He contended that this law violated both equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment by unfairly targeting a specific group based on their residency status during wartime. Furthermore, he criticized the majority's reliance on legal precedent, asserting that past decisions should be reevaluated in light of evolving societal norms and constitutional principles rather than being blindly followed. Ultimately, Justice Douglas believed this case represented an unjustifiable infringement upon veterans' rights which contradicted fundamental American values such as equality before law.