In the case of Prentis et al., Constituting The State Corporation Commission of Virginia v. Atlantic Coast Line Company, 1908, the U.S Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a state law that required railroads to provide separate but equal accommodations for black and white passengers violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Atlantic Coast Line Company had been fined by Virginia's State Corporation Commission for failing to comply with this law. However, they argued that it was unconstitutional because it enforced racial segregation. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Prentis et al., upholding the constitutionality of Virginia's segregation laws on trains. They found that as long as facilities were equal in quality and convenience, separation did not constitute unlawful discrimination under the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision reinforced "separate but equal" doctrine which would later be overturned by Brown v Board Education in 1954.

In the dissenting opinion for Prentis et al., Constituting The State Corporation Commission of Virginia, v. Atlantic Coast Line Company, Justice Harlan disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold a state law that allowed a commission to set railroad rates without judicial review. He argued that this violated due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment because it did not provide an opportunity for railroads to challenge these rates in court before they were implemented. Harlan believed that while states have broad powers to regulate industries within their borders, these powers must be exercised in accordance with constitutional protections and limitations. In his view, allowing such unchecked regulatory power threatened individual liberty and property rights by potentially subjecting them to arbitrary government action without recourse or remedy through judicial proceedings.