In the 1962 case Smith v. Evening News Association, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving labor law and freedom of speech rights for union members. The plaintiff, Smith, was an employee at Detroit's Evening News who had been dismissed after distributing leaflets criticizing his employer's labor practices outside of working hours and off company property. He filed suit against his former employer under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects employees' rights to engage in "concerted activities" for mutual aid or protection. The Supreme Court held that Smith’s dismissal violated this provision as it infringed upon his right to free speech regarding labor issues even though he acted alone without direct involvement from other workers or union officials in creating or distributing these leaflets. This decision expanded interpretations of Section 7 protections beyond collective bargaining and traditional group actions to include individual acts aimed at improving workplace conditions.

In the dissenting opinion for Smith v. Evening News Association, Justice Hugo Black argued that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) should have jurisdiction over labor disputes involving newspaper carriers who were independent contractors and not employees of a newspaper company. He believed that Congress intended to protect all workers involved in interstate commerce, regardless of their employment status. Therefore, he disagreed with the majority's interpretation of "employee" under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). According to him, this narrow interpretation undermined congressional intent and left many workers without protection from unfair labor practices. Furthermore, he pointed out that newspapers are part of interstate commerce due to their wide distribution across state lines; hence they fall within NLRB’s jurisdiction as per NLRA.