A public works company that falsely said it would retain a minority-owned subcontractor to win a contract urged an apparently divided U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn the firm's mail fraud conviction, saying its deceitful non-compliance was not a crime because the contracting agency did not suffer financially as the contract terms were met.

Jeffrey Fisher, the industrial painting company's attorney, told the justices that the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise condition for bids on the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's contract was a mere "regulatory" request separate from any financial loss with which the federal mail fraud statute is concerned.