In the Packer Corporation v. Utah case of 1931, the U.S Supreme Court upheld a Utah law that prohibited advertisements for tobacco products within 500 feet of a school. The plaintiff, Packer Corporation, argued that this law violated their First Amendment rights to free speech and Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law. However, the court ruled in favor of Utah stating that states have broad power to regulate businesses when it comes to protecting public health and welfare - especially children's welfare. They also noted that commercial speech can be regulated more strictly than other types of speech without violating constitutional rights.

In the dissenting opinion for Packer Corporation v. Utah, Justice George Sutherland argued that the state of Utah's ban on billboard advertising violated the First Amendment rights of businesses. He contended that commercial speech should be protected under free speech laws and regulations limiting this were unconstitutional unless they served a compelling public interest. In his view, while states have a right to regulate commerce within their borders, these powers do not extend to suppressing or censoring advertisements merely because they are deemed annoying or distracting by some people. Furthermore, he suggested that if such broad censorship power was granted to states it could potentially lead to arbitrary and oppressive legislation against other forms of expression as well.