The U.S. Supreme Court case West v. Kansas Natural Gas Company in 1910 revolved around the issue of interstate commerce and state regulation of natural resources, specifically natural gas. The State of Oklahoma, represented by Attorney General Charles West, sought to prevent the Kansas Natural Gas Company from transporting gas out of state in order to conserve its resources for local use. However, the court ruled against Oklahoma on grounds that it violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution which grants Congress exclusive power over interstate commerce. The court held that once a commodity has been committed to interstate commerce within one state's borders, no other state can impose restrictions upon it without infringing upon federal authority under this clause.

In the dissenting opinion for West v. Kansas Natural Gas Company, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., joined by Justices Harlan and Day, argued that the majority's decision was an overreach of federal power at the expense of state sovereignty. He contended that Oklahoma had a right to regulate its natural resources as it saw fit without interference from interstate commerce laws unless there was clear conflict with national interests. The dissenters believed that this case did not present such a conflict and thus should have been decided in favor of Oklahoma's regulatory authority. They also expressed concern about potential negative impacts on states' abilities to manage their own affairs if similar decisions were made in future cases.