In the case of L. Vogelstein & Company, Inc. v. United States (1922), the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government regarding a dispute over import duties on iron and steel scrap materials brought into the country by L. Vogelstein & Co., a metal trading company based in Baltimore, Maryland. The company had argued that it was being unfairly charged for these imports under an incorrect classification within tariff laws at that time which resulted in higher duty rates than what they believed were applicable to their goods. The court held that according to Paragraph G of Section III of Tariff Act 1913, iron or steel scrap is not considered as 'waste' but rather as 'materials', thus subjecting them to higher import duties compared with waste products from manufacturing processes such as slag or dross etc., which are classified differently and attract lower tariffs. This decision upheld previous rulings made by both Customs officials and lower courts who also interpreted this provision similarly while assessing customs duties payable on imported scrap metals like those involved here.

In the dissenting opinion for L. Vogelstein & Company, Inc. v. United States, Justice McReynolds disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Section 2 of the Lever Act as it pertains to unjust enrichment and war profiteering during World War I. He argued that this section was intended to prevent excessive profits from government contracts rather than regulate all business transactions during wartime. According to him, interpreting this provision broadly would lead to an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power by allowing a commission or individual (in this case, President Wilson) to determine what constitutes unreasonable profit in any given industry without clear guidelines from Congress itself on how such determinations should be made.