The Red Oil Manufacturing Company v. Board of Agriculture of North Carolina case in 1911 revolved around the regulation and sale of cottonseed meal as a fertilizer by the state's Board of Agriculture. The Red Oil Manufacturing Company, based in Georgia, challenged this law arguing that it violated their rights under both the Commerce Clause and Fourteenth Amendment due to its discriminatory nature against out-of-state manufacturers. However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of North Carolina's Board of Agriculture stating that states have a right to regulate products sold within their borders for public safety reasons even if they are produced out-of-state. This decision upheld states' authority to enact laws protecting consumers from potentially harmful or fraudulent goods while also reinforcing limitations on interstate commerce protections.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Red Oil Manufacturing Company v. Board of Agriculture of North Carolina argued that the state's regulation, which prohibited the sale and distribution of cottonseed meal unless it met certain standards, was unconstitutional. The justice believed that this law violated both due process and equal protection clauses under the Fourteenth Amendment by unfairly targeting out-of-state manufacturers while exempting local producers from these regulations. Furthermore, they contended that such a law interfered with interstate commerce as it imposed an undue burden on businesses outside North Carolina seeking to sell their products within its borders. They maintained that states should not have unchecked power to regulate trade in ways that could potentially disrupt national economic unity or discriminate against non-residents.