The U.S. Supreme Court case International Mercantile Marine Company v. Stranahan in 1908 revolved around the issue of whether a tax imposed on immigrant passengers by the Secretary of Treasury was constitutional or not. The International Mercantile Marine Company, a shipping company, argued that this tax was an unconstitutional regulation of commerce and violated their rights under the Fifth Amendment's due process clause. However, the court ruled against them stating that Congress had broad powers to regulate immigration as part of its authority over foreign affairs and could delegate this power to executive officials such as the Secretary of Treasury. Therefore, it held that imposing taxes on immigrants did not violate any constitutional provisions but instead served as a legitimate means for funding federal immigration services.

In the dissenting opinion for International Mercantile Marine Company v. Stranahan, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a statute allowing customs officials to impose fines on shipping companies for bringing in diseased immigrants was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. The dissenting justices believed that Congress had improperly given its own law-making authority to executive branch officials by letting them determine what constituted a "loathsome or dangerous contagious disease." They contended this vague standard allowed too much discretion and could lead to arbitrary enforcement. Furthermore, they disagreed with the majority's view that such delegation was necessary due to practical considerations related to immigration control at ports of entry. Instead, they maintained that Congress should have provided more specific guidelines about which diseases would make immigrants ineligible for admission into the country.