The Western Telegraph Company appealed to the US Supreme Court against The Magnetic Telegraph Company and Aruamah S. Abell and Zenus Barnum. At issue was a contract between the two companies that gave exclusive rights of use for certain telegraph lines in California, Oregon, Washington Territory, Utah Territory, New Mexico and Arizona. The court found that the agreement violated public policy because it limited competition among telegraph companies in those territories by granting exclusive privileges to one company over another without any consideration from either party for such an arrangement. Furthermore, they determined that this type of contract could not be enforced as it would create a monopoly on communication services which is contrary to public interest. As such, the court ruled in favor of Western Telegraph Company and declared their agreement with Magnetic Telegraph invalid due to its violation of public policy principles.

The Western Telegraph Company appealed to the Supreme Court after a lower court ruled in favor of The Magnetic Telegraph Company and Aruamah S. Abell and Zenus Barnum. The Western Telegraph Company argued that they had exclusive rights to operate telegraph lines within certain states, while the defendants claimed their own right to do so under different state laws. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Curtis argued that Congress has no power over interstate commerce or communication between two states; therefore, it could not grant exclusive privileges for such activities as it did with the Western Telegraph Company's charter. He further stated that if Congress was allowed this power then it would be unconstitutional because only individual states have authority over internal affairs like communications between citizens within its borders. Ultimately he concluded by stating that since there is no federal law granting any party an exclusive privilege for operating a telegraph line across multiple states, each state must decide who can legally operate such services within its boundaries without interference from other parties or governments outside of those particular jurisdictions.