In the 1908 case of Pickford v. Talbott, the United States Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving land ownership in Kentucky. The plaintiff, Pickford, claimed that he had purchased a tract of land from an individual who had obtained it through inheritance. However, the defendant, Talbott argued that this was not possible as his family's will stipulated that upon death their property would be held in trust for future generations and could not be sold or transferred to anyone outside of the family line. The court sided with Talbott stating that under Kentucky law at the time when such a will was written (prior to 1852), it was legal to create "perpetual entailments" which prevented properties from being sold off by heirs and instead required them to pass down through generations within families indefinitely.

In the dissenting opinion for Pickford v. Talbott, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a Kentucky law prohibiting non-residents from selling liquor in the state without first obtaining a license and paying taxes was inconsistent with previous Supreme Court rulings on interstate commerce. The dissent contended that this law violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution by placing an undue burden on out-of-state businesses seeking to sell their products in Kentucky. It further asserted that such laws could potentially lead to protectionist policies where states favor local businesses over those from other states, which would be detrimental to free trade among states. Therefore, according to this view, while individual states have some authority over alcohol sales within their borders due to public health concerns associated with alcohol consumption, they should not be allowed to use this power as a means of discriminating against out-of-state businesses.