In the case of Charleston and Western Carolina Railway Company v. Thompson in 1913, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving railroad freight rates. The plaintiff, Thompson, had sued the railway company for charging him more than what was stated in its published tariff schedule for shipping his goods. The railway company argued that it had made an error when publishing its tariffs and thus charged Thompson based on their actual rate instead of the published one. The court held that under Interstate Commerce Act (ICA), railroads were required to strictly adhere to their filed tariffs until they are changed according to ICA procedures - even if those tariffs contained errors. Therefore, any deviation from these filed rates would be illegal regardless of whether or not it was due to a mistake by the carrier. This ruling emphasized strict compliance with regulatory requirements as well as transparency between carriers and shippers regarding freight charges.

In the dissenting opinion for Charleston and Western Carolina Railway Company v. Thompson, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a South Carolina law requiring railroads to provide separate but equal accommodations for black and white passengers violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The dissenting justices believed that this state law interfered with interstate commerce by imposing an undue burden on railway companies operating across state lines. They contended that only Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce, not individual states. Therefore, they felt that upholding such a law set a dangerous precedent by allowing states too much control over industries crucial to national trade and transportation.