In the case of United States of America v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, 1914, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving railroad freight rates. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) had ordered the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company to reduce its rates for transporting coal from mines in Kentucky and West Virginia to points in Georgia and Alabama. The ICC argued that these rates were unreasonably high compared with those charged by other railroads for similar services over comparable distances. However, the railroad company contested this order before the Supreme Court. The court sided with the ICC, holding that it was within its power under federal law to determine what constituted reasonable freight charges and enforce reductions if necessary. It also held that courts should defer to such determinations unless they are clearly unreasonable or unsupported by evidence. This decision affirmed regulatory authority's right to control prices where public interest is involved - an important precedent for future cases involving rate regulation.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of United States v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, it was argued that the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) should not have been given authority to determine whether a railroad company's rates were reasonable or discriminatory. The dissenting justices believed this power exceeded what Congress intended when creating the ICC and violated constitutional principles by allowing an administrative body to make judicial determinations. They contended that only courts should decide if rates are unjustly discriminatory under federal law, as they involve complex legal questions about fairness and equality in business practices. Furthermore, they expressed concern over potential harm to railroads from arbitrary rate-setting decisions by non-judicial bodies like the ICC without proper checks on their powers.