In the case of Federal Trade Commission v. Sinclair Refining Company, 1922, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had overstepped its authority by ordering Sinclair Refining Company to cease and desist from entering into contracts with independent dealers that included a clause requiring them to only resell Sinclair's gasoline. The FTC argued that this practice constituted an unfair method of competition under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. However, Sinclair contended that these exclusive dealing arrangements were not inherently anti-competitive and thus did not violate federal law. The Supreme Court sided with Sinclair, ruling in a unanimous decision that such agreements did not constitute an unfair method of competition per se under Section 5. The court held that for a practice to be deemed "unfair," it must cause substantial injury to competition or tend towards creating monopoly power - something which was not proven in this case. This landmark decision helped define what constitutes "unfair" practices within trade regulation laws and set precedent for future cases involving similar issues.

In the dissenting opinion for Federal Trade Commission v. Sinclair Refining Company, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold FTC's cease and desist order against Sinclair Refining Company overstepped its jurisdictional boundaries. The dissenting justices contended that the FTC had no authority to regulate or control prices in a competitive market, as this power is reserved for Congress under antitrust laws. They further asserted that there was insufficient evidence of unfair competition on part of Sinclair Refining Company, which they believed should be determined by actual harm caused rather than potential damage inferred from business practices. Additionally, they disagreed with the majority’s interpretation of “unfair methods of competition,” arguing it should not include actions taken in response to competitors’ behavior but only those intended to create monopoly or destroy competition itself.