The U.S. Supreme Court case National Labor Relations Board v. Radio and Television Broadcast Engineers Union, Local 1212, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO in 1960 revolved around the issue of whether a union's discipline on its members for crossing an unauthorized picket line constituted unfair labor practices under sections 8(b)(1)(A) and (b)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act. The court ruled that it did not constitute unfair labor practice as long as it was within the bounds set by Congress in section 7 which allows employees to refrain from collective bargaining or other mutual aid without fear of penalty imposed by their own unions. However, if such penalties were used to restrain or coerce employees in exercising rights guaranteed them by section 7 then they would be considered unlawful.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Radio and Television Broadcast Engineers Union, Local 1212, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO (1960), Justice Frankfurter disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Section 8(b)(4)(A) of the Taft-Hartley Act. He argued that this section was designed to prevent unions from engaging in secondary boycotts or strikes aimed at neutral employers who were not directly involved in a labor dispute. However, he did not believe it should be applied to situations where a union is seeking better working conditions or wages from their direct employer - even if this action indirectly affects other businesses. In his view, applying Section 8(b)(4)(A) too broadly could infringe upon workers' rights to strike and collectively bargain as protected by federal law.