In the 1938 case Kessler v. Strecker, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a German immigrant named William Strecker who was facing deportation due to his membership in an organization that advocated for overthrowing the government by force or violence. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had ordered his deportation based on this affiliation under provisions of the Immigration Act of 1918. However, Strecker argued that he had ceased being a member before those provisions were enacted into law and therefore could not be deported retroactively for past actions which were legal at their time. The Supreme Court agreed with him, stating that laws should not apply retrospectively unless Congress has explicitly stated so - which it hadn't done in this case. They held that applying such laws retroactively would violate principles of justice and fair play as individuals cannot possibly know they are committing illegal acts if those acts have yet to be defined as illegal by law.

In the dissenting opinion for Kessler v. Strecker, Justice Butler argued that the court majority had misinterpreted and overstepped its authority in relation to immigration law. He contended that Congress has broad power to regulate immigration and can delegate this power as it sees fit. In his view, when an immigrant is found to have been a member of an organization advocating overthrow of government by force or violence at any time after entry into the United States, they are deportable under existing legislation - regardless if membership was active during their admission period or not. The justice believed that such individuals pose potential threats to national security and public safety; hence deportation should be upheld even if there's no evidence showing current affiliation with said organizations at present time.