The U.S. Supreme Court case Wisconsin et al. v. Federal Power Commission et al., 1962, revolved around the issue of whether or not the Federal Power Commission (FPC) had jurisdiction over wholesale sales of natural gas by a company that produced and sold it in one state to companies distributing it in other states, even if there was no interstate transportation involved. The FPC asserted its authority under the Natural Gas Act which gave them control over all sales for resale in interstate commerce but did not define what constituted "interstate commerce". The court ruled 5-4 against Wisconsin and others who argued that such transactions were intrastate rather than interstate since they occurred within a single state's borders without crossing into another state's territory. In their decision, the justices held that these transactions affected more states than just where they took place due to their impact on supply and demand across multiple jurisdictions; therefore, they fell under federal regulation as part of an integrated national market for natural gas.

In the dissenting opinion for Wisconsin et al. v. Federal Power Commission et al., Justice Douglas argued that the Federal Power Commission (FPC) did not have jurisdiction over wholesale sales of natural gas produced and sold within a single state, even if it was eventually resold in interstate commerce. He believed this interpretation exceeded Congress's intent when creating the Natural Gas Act, which he saw as primarily aimed at preventing price gouging by pipeline companies involved in direct interstate transport of gas. Furthermore, he expressed concern about federal intrusion into traditional areas of state regulation such as conservation efforts and property rights related to natural resources extraction. In his view, extending FPC authority to intrastate sales could lead to conflicting regulations between states and federal government on these matters.