The U.S. Supreme Court case White Motor Co. v. United States in 1962 revolved around the issue of whether vertical territorial and customer restrictions were per se violations of the Sherman Act, a federal statute prohibiting certain business activities that reduce competition in the marketplace. The government had filed suit against White Motor Company for allegedly violating this act by restricting its dealers from reselling trucks to customers outside their assigned territories or to those who would resell them to such "unauthorized" customers. The District Court ruled these practices as illegal without requiring proof they unreasonably restrained trade, but on appeal, the Supreme Court disagreed with this blanket ruling approach and remanded it back for reconsideration under rule-of-reason analysis instead of per se illegality.

In the dissenting opinion for White Motor Co. v. United States, Justice Harlan argued that the majority's decision to remand the case back to a lower court was unnecessary and overly cautious. He believed that there was sufficient evidence in front of them to make a definitive ruling on whether or not vertical territorial and customer restrictions were per se violations of antitrust laws under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. According to him, these types of restrictions should be considered illegal without needing further examination into their reasonableness or impact on competition because they inherently limit trade and restrict competition by designating specific territories or customers for each distributor or dealer, thereby preventing others from selling in those areas or to those customers.