In the case of Edward J. DeBartolo Corp v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council et al., 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of DeBartolo Corporation, a mall owner who had been targeted by union handbillers protesting one of its tenants for using non-union labor on a construction project elsewhere. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) initially found that this constituted an unfair labor practice under section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which prohibits unions from coercing neutral third parties to cease doing business with companies they are disputing with. However, the Supreme Court reversed this decision and held that distributing handbills at a shopping center is not an unfair labor practice as it does not constitute picketing or other forms of direct pressure prohibited by NLRA; rather it falls within First Amendment protections for free speech.

In the dissenting opinion for Edward J. DeBartolo Corp v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council et al., Justice White, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Powell and Scalia, disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Section 8(b)(4) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). They argued that it was clear from both its text and legislative history that Congress intended to prohibit secondary boycotts like those carried out by the union in this case. The dissenters believed that a plain reading of Section 8(b)(4) would find such conduct unlawful because it induced individuals not involved in a labor dispute to cease doing business with an employer. They criticized the majority for straying from established precedent regarding statutory interpretation, asserting their approach undermined Congressional intent behind NLRA provisions designed to protect neutral parties from becoming entangled in labor disputes.