In the 1946 case of Rescue Army et al. v. Municipal Court of Los Angeles, the U.S Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether a city ordinance that required permits for solicitation violated First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs were members of Rescue Army, a religious organization who claimed that their freedom of speech and religion were being infringed upon by this law as they often solicited donations in public spaces as part of their religious practice. However, instead of ruling directly on these claims, the court dismissed them due to lack of jurisdiction because it felt there wasn't sufficient evidence or clarity about how exactly the ordinance would be enforced against them specifically or if it even applied to them at all. This decision set an important precedent known as "the Ashwander rules" which state that courts should avoid making decisions on constitutional issues unless absolutely necessary.

In the dissenting opinion for Rescue Army et al. v. Municipal Court of Los Angeles, Justice Frankfurter argued that the court should not have heard this case at all due to its lack of a substantial federal question and because it involved an interpretation of state law rather than constitutional issues. He believed that by hearing such cases, the Supreme Court was overstepping its bounds and interfering with state courts' ability to interpret their own laws. Furthermore, he expressed concern about the potential implications for religious freedom if local governments could regulate charitable solicitations in this way but also noted that these concerns did not rise to a level requiring Supreme Court intervention.