In the 1907 case of Hunter, Sheriff of Buncombe County, North Carolina v. Wood, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a dispute over land ownership and tax payment. The plaintiff was John A. Wood who claimed that he had paid taxes on his property for several years but it was still sold by the county sheriff to satisfy unpaid taxes from previous owners. He argued this violated his rights under both state law and the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause which guarantees fair treatment through normal judicial system especially as a citizen’s entitlement to life, liberty or property is concerned. The court ruled in favor of Mr. Wood stating that selling someone's property without giving them an opportunity to be heard constitutes deprivation of their property without due process of law thus violating their constitutional rights under Fourteenth Amendment.

In the dissenting opinion for Hunter v. Wood, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a North Carolina law allowing sheriffs to be sued in their personal capacity for acts performed under color of state law contradicted previous rulings by the Court. The dissent contended that this ruling effectively stripped public officials of immunity protections previously recognized by federal courts and could potentially expose them to an overwhelming number of lawsuits, thereby hindering their ability to perform their duties effectively. It was also pointed out that this interpretation would mean any citizen who felt wronged by a government action could sue individual officers personally rather than challenging the constitutionality of laws or actions at a higher level. This approach, according to the dissenting justices, undermined principles of sovereign immunity and threatened separation-of-powers doctrine as well as effective governance.