In the case of Head, Doing Business as Lea County Publishing Co., et al. v. New Mexico Board of Examiners in Optometry (1962), the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving commercial speech and professional regulation. The appellants, including an optometrist and a newspaper publisher, challenged a New Mexico law that prohibited advertising by optometrists as violating their First Amendment rights to free speech and press. They argued that this restriction was not justified by any substantial state interest in maintaining professional standards among optometrists or protecting consumers from misleading advertisements. The court upheld the constitutionality of the law, finding it within the state's power to regulate professions for public welfare purposes - even if such regulations impinge upon freedom of speech or press. It held that states have broad authority to establish standards for licensing professionals and regulating their conduct in order to protect public health, safety, and other valid interests; these powers include limiting deceptive or misleading advertising practices which could potentially harm consumers.

In the dissenting opinion for Head, Doing Business as Lea County Publishing Co., et al. v. New Mexico Board of Examiners in Optometry, Justice Black argued that the majority's decision to uphold a state law prohibiting advertising by optometrists was an unjustified restriction on free speech and press rights protected under the First Amendment. He contended that commercial advertising should not be excluded from constitutional protection simply because it is motivated by profit or involves a profession rather than a product. Furthermore, he asserted that such restrictions could lead to arbitrary enforcement and potential abuse of power by regulatory boards like the one involved in this case. In his view, consumers would benefit from more information about services available to them rather than less; thus, laws restricting truthful commercial speech were harmful both to individual liberties and public welfare.