Gregory v. Ashcroft
Supreme Court
501 U.S. 452 (1991)
Missouri state judges (plaintiffs), appointed by the governor and subject to retention elections, sued the state (defendant) arguing Missouri's constitutional mandatory retirement age of 70 for judges violated the ADEA's ban on mandatory retirement ages for employees over 40; the ADEA's definition of "employee" excludes elected officials, their personal staff, and appointees on the policymaking level, and the trial court and court of appeals both found judges fell outside the ADEA's employee definition, dismissing the suit.
Whether a federal statute like the ADEA should be construed to cover state judges as "employees," thereby overriding a state's constitutional authority to set judicial qualifications, absent an unmistakably clear statement of congressional intent to do so.