In the case of Smith v. Bennett, 1960, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for states to deny prisoners access to habeas corpus appeals due to their inability to pay filing fees. The petitioner in this case, an Iowa state prisoner named Smith who had been denied parole and wanted a review of his conviction and sentence, could not afford the $4 filing fee required by Iowa law for such an appeal. He argued that this requirement violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights because it discriminated against him based on his poverty status. The Supreme Court agreed with Smith's argument unanimously (9-0). They held that denying indigent inmates access to a complete appellate review while granting wealthier inmates such access constituted "invidious discrimination" contrary to Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In the dissenting opinion for Smith v. Bennett, Justice Whittaker disagreed with the majority's ruling that indigent prisoners have a constitutional right to appeal their convictions without paying filing fees. He argued that there was no historical or legal precedent supporting this interpretation of equal protection and due process clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment. Furthermore, he contended that states should be allowed to impose reasonable regulations on appeals processes as long as they do not discriminate against any particular group of people. In his view, requiring all appellants to pay a small fee did not constitute discrimination because it applied equally to everyone regardless of their financial status.