Court Opinion

ID: 9427456
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:20:52.061765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:07.317721
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Marshall,
dissenting.
The Court today finds a rational basis for the forced retirement of Foreign Service personnel at age 60, on a record devoid of evidence that persons of that age or older are less capable of performing their jobs than younger employees. I adhere to my view in Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U. S. 307, 317-327 (1976) (Marshall, J., dissenting), that mandatory retirement provisions warrant more than this minimal level of equal protection review. Because *113I believe that the statute at issue here cannot withstand closer scrutiny, I respectfully dissent.
I
A person’s interest in continued Government employment, although not “fundamental” as the law now stands, certainly ranks among the most important of his personal concerns that Government action would be likely to affect. Id., at 322-323; cf. Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U. S. 134 (1974); Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564, 572 (1972); Smith v. Texas, 233 U. S. 630, 636, 641 (1914). This interest is of special significance to older employees, because
“[o]nce terminated, the elderly cannot readily find alternative employment. The lack of work is not only economically damaging, but emotionally and physically draining. Deprived of his status in the community and of the opportunity for meaningful activity, fearful of becoming dependent on others for his support, and lonely in his new-found isolation, the involuntarily retired person is susceptible to physical and emotional ailments as a direct consequence of his enforced idleness. Ample clinical evidence supports the conclusion that mandatory retirement poses a direct threat to the health and life expectancy of the retired person . . . .” Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, supra, at 323 (footnote omitted).
When legislative action affects individual interests of such dimension, a heightened level of judicial scrutiny is appropriate.
In addition, mandatory retirement provisions warrant careful judicial attention because of the class on which the deprivation is imposed. To be sure, the elderly are not a “discrete and insular minorit[y],” United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U. S. 144, 153 n. 4 (1938),1 in need of *114“extraordinary protection from the majoritarian political process.” San Antonio School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 1, 28 (1973). But they have suffered from discrimination based upon generalizations that are inaccurate for many, if not most, of the age group affected. See Report of the Secretary of Labor to the Congress on Age Discrimination in Employment Under Section 715 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Older American Worker 8 (1965) (hereinafter Labor Report); 113 Cong. Rec. 34742 (1967) (remarks of Rep. Burke); H. R. Rep. No. 95-527, pt. 1, p. 2 (1977); Note, The Cost of Growing Old: Business Necessity and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 88 Yale L. J. 565, 576-577 (1979), and sources cited therein. Such generalizations stigmatize the aged as physically and mentally deficient, regardless of their individual capabilities. Cf. House Select Committee on Aging, Mandatory Retirement: The Social and Human Cost of Enforced Idleness, 95th Cong., 1st Sess., 35, 37 (Comm. Print 1977) (hereafter House Select Committee on Aging); C. Edel-man & I. Siegler, Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Law 15-17 (1978) (hereafter Edelman & Siegler). Particularly in the area of employment, significant deprivations have been imposed on the basis of these stereotypes, see 29 U. S. C. § 621 (a); Labor Report 18-19; Note, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 90 Harv. L. Rev. 380, 380-381, 383 (1976).2
*115Considering the importance of the interests at stake and the prevalence of discrimination against the aged, I cannot agree that the glancing oversight of the rational-basis test fulfills our obligation to ensure that all persons receive the equal protection of the laws. I would require proof that the Foreign Service’s mandatory retirement scheme “serves important governmental objectives and [is] substantially related to achievement of those objectives.” Califano v. Webster, 430 U. S. 313, 316-317 (1977); Craig v. Boren, 429 U. S. 190, 197 (1976); Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U. S., at 325 (Marshall, J., dissenting). Measured by this standard, the Foreign Service’s mandatory retirement provisions must fall.
II
Before applying this intermediate standard, it is first necessary to determine the nature of the classifications that the statute delimits. In this case, there are two. The statutory scheme distinguishes between civil servants and Foreign Service personnel and between Foreign Service employees under 60 and those 60 or over. Appellees unequivocally claimed in this Court that the latter distinction was unconstitutional, see Brief for Appellees 76-78; Tr. of Oral Arg. 26-28, as the Court seems to concede, ante, at 109-110, and n. 27. Nonetheless the Court summarily dismisses this claim, finding that ap-*116pellees abandoned it below after the judgment of the District Court had issued.
By limiting its consideration of the classifications at issue, the majority has evaded the more difficult question in this case. This Court has repeatedly held that a “prevailing party may . . . assert in a reviewing court any ground in support of his judgment, whether or not that ground was relied upon or even considered by the trial court.” Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U. S. 471, 475 n. 6 (1970); accord, California Bankers Assn. v. Shultz, 416 U. S. 21, 71 (1974); Langnes v. Green, 282 U. S. 531, 538-539 (1931); United States v. American Railway Express Co., 265 U. S. 425, 435 (1924).3 The judgment of the District Court was that § 632 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, 22 U. S. C. § 1002, “violates the equal protection guarantees embodied in the Fifth Amendment.” App. to Juris. Statement 9A. Appellees’ contention that the statute discriminates against persons aged 60 and over patently is a ground for affirming that judgment. Whether ap-pellees previously abandoned the issue is irrelevant since the purported abandonment came after the District Court had granted summary judgment. Because the Government had the opportunity to present evidence on the issue, it could in no way be prejudiced by its resurrection here. Thus, the claim is properly before us.
Ill
Undoubtedly, an important objective of the Foreign Service retirement system is to assure the “professional competence” *117of the Foreign Service corps. See ante, at 97. The Court finds that mandatory retirement at age 60 is rationally related to this objective in two ways. In the Court’s view, the physical and psychological difficulties that Foreign Service personnel face as a result of frequent overseas assignments impair their performance at an earlier age than most persons including, it seems, civil servants exposed to much the same conditions. Hence, the majority concludes, Congress could reasonably have determined that 60-year-olds would lack the vitality necessary to perform their jobs competently. The Court also finds that the early retirement age creates “room at the top,” thereby ensuring a predictable supply of promotion opportunities for younger employees. Such opportunities, it is said, are necessary to “spur morale and stimulate superior performance in the ranks.” Ante, at 98. A fair reading of the record before us, however, reveals no substantial relationship between the mandatory retirement system and the articulated objective of the statutory scheme.
A
In my judgment, appellees have successfully challenged the Government’s central premise that the pressures of transient Foreign Service life diminish the capacity of older employees to perform their jobs. There is nothing inherent in any of the positions that appellees hold to indicate that early retirement is necessary to ensure excellence. Foreign Service officers in the State Department engage in economic and political research, visa or other consular work, negotiations with representatives of foreign governments, personnel recruitment and management, and other administrative functions. See United States Dept. of State and International Communication Agency, Foreign Service Officer Careers 4-8 (1978). Officers in the International Communication Agency lecture and perform cultural and other informational duties, as well as administrative and personnel management functions. Id., *118at 8-10. The Agency for International Development (AID) employs economists, financial analysts, staff attorneys, auditors, and accountants in providing economic and technical assistance to other countries. U. S. Civil Service Comm’n, Federal Jobs Overseas 10-11 (1975). The mandatory retirement provisions in addition cover Foreign Service staff personnel who perform technical, administrative, clerical, or custodial work. See H. R. Rep. No. 2104, 86th Cong., 2d Sess., 15 (1960).4
That older workers could effectively perform such Foreign Service jobs is also suggested by the lack of an early mandatory retirement provision for civil servants who spend much of their careers abroad doing work similar to that of Foreign Service personnel. Of the over 58,000 American civilians in Government positions overseas in 1976, only the 4,787 Foreign Service personnel faced mandatory retirement at age 60. 436 F. Supp. 134, 136 (DC 1977). Moreover, discrete segments of this work force, such as the Agriculture Department’s Foreign Service, spend almost as much of their tenure overseas as do members of the State Department’s Foreign Service. Id., at 137. The Court discounts these figures because it finds that the need for excellence in the Foreign Service may be more compelling than in the Civil Service. Ante, at 106. However, almost 40% of the Americans working overseas for Foreign Service agencies are civil servants who are not subject to forced retirement, and AID often has its work performed on a contract basis by other agencies that do not have mandatory retirement provisions. 436 F. Supp., at 136-137; see §5, 92 Stat. 191. Despite this broad experience with older workers in *119analogous situations, the Government submitted no evidence that it has encountered age-related problems in connection with these or other civil servants aged 60 and over.
Appellees, on the other hand, introduced a substantial amount of medical testimony dispelling any adverse correlation between job performance and advancing age, and offered to introduce more. For example, the former chief psychiatrist for the Peace Corps stated flatly that “inability to perform work satisfactorily under stressful conditions in overseas cultures has no relationship to advancing age.” Affidavit of Dr. J. English 2. See also Affidavit of Dr. D. Kessler; Affidavit of T. Fox.5 Similarly, appellees have pointed to a variety of studies indicating that older workers may be more competent than younger ones in the types of jobs involved in this case. The House Report accompanying the recent amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, H. R. Rep. No. 95-527, pt. 1, p. 4 (1977), noted:
“Testimony to the committee cited the results of various research findings which indicate that older workers were as good or better than their younger coworkers with regard to dependability, judgment, work quality, work volume, human relations, and absenteeism; and older workers were shown to have fewer accidents on the job. As Congressman Pepper stated before our committee: ‘The Labor Department’s finding that there is more variation in work ability within the same age group than between age groups justifies judging workers on competency, not age.’ ” (Footnote omitted.)
*120The House Select Committee on Aging 34 also observed:
“Studies by the Department of Labor, the late Ross McFarland of the Harvard School of Public Health, the National Council on the Aging, and many other experts in the field indicate that older workers can produce a quality and quantity of work equal or superior to younger workers, that they have as good, and usually better, attendance records as younger workers, that they are as capable of learning new skills and adapting to changing circumstances when properly presented as younger workers, and that they are generally more satisfied with their jobs than younger workers.”
See also Report of the Secretary of Labor to the Congress Under Section 715 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Research Materials 86 (1965); Edelman & Siegler 27-31; Note, 88 Yale L. J., at 576-577, and sources cited therein.
The Court closes its eyes to appellees’ evidence against the mandatory retirement provision and excuses the Government from producing evidence in support of it because Congress determined that the nomadic life of Foreign Service personnel would take its toll by the age of 60. This determination, the Court concludes, rested on the “common-sense proposition that aging — almost by definition — inevitably wears us all down.” Ante, at 112.6 The issue, however, is not whether persons *121between age 60 and 70 “wear down,” but whether they are competent Foreign Service personnel. Absent any concrete evidence in the record that they are less able, or indeed, any indication that Congress even considered such information when it enacted the statute, see n. 6, supra, the Court is remitted to unsubstantiated assumptions concerning the competency of older workers for white-collar jobs.
With respect to sex discrimination, we have refused to accept “ ‘overbroad’ generalizations” about the characteristics of a particular class as substantial support for a legislative classification. See Califano v. Goldfarb, 430 U. S. 199, 211 (1977) (plurality opinion); Craig v. Boren, 429 U. S., at 198-199; Stanton v. Stanton, 421 U. S. 7 (1975); Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U. S. 677 (1973). I believe the same rule should apply here. See supra, at 113-115. While age, unlike sex, is at some point likely to bear a relationship to ability, I would require a showing that a substantial relationship does in fact exist. Thus, to the extent that Congress in § 632 viewed age as predictive of a decline in competence, this Court should not simply assume the correlation, but should inquire whether age is a sufficiently accurate predictor to justify the significant deprivations imposed by forced retirement. See Craig v. Boren, supra, at 201-202.7 Since ap-*122pellees have adduced considerable evidence demonstrating the absence of any correlation, and the Government has presented no evidence to the contrary, the record simply does not support the Court’s result.
Not only is mandatory retirement an insufficiently accurate predictor of competence, it is also an unnecessary one. As the Foreign Service personnel system now operates, persons who do not measure up to Service standards are selected out, or terminated, after an annual review. Ante, at 99. Further, all Foreign Service employees are given biennial medical examinations, as well as special examinations when necessary, and are subject to medical selection out if they are not fit for duty. See Record 20. Under this scheme, then, the continued competence of appellants’ personnel is periodically assessed. With such individualized procedures already in effect, the Government cannot realistically claim that prohibiting resort to age-based generalizations would jeopardize the quality of the Foreign Service. Cf. United States Dept. of Agriculture v. Murry, 413 U. S. 508, 518-519 (1973) (Marshall, J., concurring); Craig v. Boren, supra, at 199.
B
The other ground on which the Court upholds mandatory retirement is its function of
“stimulating the highest performance in the ranks of the Foreign Service by assuring that opportunities for promotion would be available despite limits on the number of personnel classes and on the number of positions in the *123Service. Aiming at superior achievement can hardly be characterized as illegitimate, and it is equally untenable to suggest that providing promotion opportunities through the selection-out process and through early retirement does not play an acceptable role in the process.” Ante, at 101.
This justification, it seems to me, would legitimate any retirement system in which there are a limited number of high-level positions. Indeed, the Court acknowledges as much when it deems the rationale equally applicable to Foreign Service staff personnel, who were not designated by Congress as an elite cadre but who are nonetheless subject to the mandatory retirement provisions. Ante, at 99-100, n. 15. The fundamental flaw in this analysis is that the Court ends rather than begins its inquiry by articulating the legislative goal of a competent Foreign Service. See Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U. S. 762, 769 (1977). The question that the majority fails to pursue is whether, on balance, mandatory retirement at 60 substantially furthers this goal.
The answer is not readily apparent, for even if mandatory retirement does ensure promotional opportunities for younger employees, it also deprives the Service of the talents of persons who it has admitted are, at least at the time of their retirement, “its best officers.” S. Doe. No. 14, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., 118 (1967). In the absence of any evidence that employees aged 60 and over are less able, or that forced retirement does in fact boost productivity by enhancing recruitment and promotional opportunities, this proffered justification does not withstand analysis.
Moreover, appellees note that most Foreign Service officers, prompted by the generous pension benefits offered by the Service, retire well before the age of 60. See Record 20. The experience of the Civil Service and private employers suggests that this pattern would not change significantly were the mandatory retirement age raised. See U. S. Civil Service *124Comm’n, Federal Fringe Benefit Facts 16-17, 22 (1977); Retirement Age Policies: Hearing before the House Select Committee on Aging, 95th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 1, p. 30 (1977).8 Thus, it cannot be assumed that, absent § 632, many Foreign Service personnel would stay on to “clog the promotional stream” for younger persons, particularly since those who remain would still be subject to selection out for health reasons, poor performance, or nonpromotion.
IV
I do not disagree, of course, that Congress could legitimately take “great pains to assure the high quality of those occupying positions critical to the conduct of our foreign relations in the post-war world.” Ante, at 101. Nor do I contend that this Court should substitute its judgment for that of the Congress or the Foreign Service on the appropriate retirement system for Foreign Service personnel. I submit, however, that it is the function of this Court to assess constitutional challenges to that system on the record before us. Appellees presented substantial evidence that the mandatory retirement provision has not accomplished the purposes for which it was designed. The Government failed to establish otherwise. Where individuals’ livelihood, self-esteem, and dignity are so critically affected, I do not believe the Government should be relieved of that responsibility.
Accordingly, I dissent.

 The class is not “discrete and insular” because all of us may someday belong to it, and voters may be reluctant to impose deprivations that they *114themselves could eventually have to bear. However, the time lag between when the deprivations are imposed and when their effects are felt may diminish the efficacy of this political safeguard. See L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 1077 n. 3 (1978). The safeguard is also inadequate where, as here, the deprivation affects only a small and distinct segment of the work force, of which few legislators or voters will ever be a part. Thus, the elderly should receive an extra measure of judicial protection from majoritarian political processes in circumstances such as those presented here.

 In its statement of findings and purpose for the Age Discrimination in *115Employment Act of 1967, 81 Stat. 602, 29 U. S. C. §621 (a), Congress noted that:
“(1) in the face of rising productivity and affluence, older workers find themselves disadvantaged in their efforts to retain employment, and especially to regain employment when displaced from jobs;
“(2) the setting of arbitrary age limits regardless of potential for job performance has become a common practice, and certain otherwise desirable practices may work to the disadvantage of older persons;
“(3) the incidence of unemployment, especially long-term unemployment with resultant deterioration of skill, morale, and employer acceptability is, relative to the younger ages, high among older workers; their numbers are great and growing; and their employment problems grave . . . .”

 This rule does not apply where accepting the ground advanced for affirmance would result in greater relief than was granted below. See FEA v. Algonquin SNG, Inc., 426 U. S. 548, 560 n. 11 (1976); United States v. Raines, 362 U. S. 17, 27 n. 7 (1960). The Court quite correctly does not rely on such a possibility here, as appellees claim only that their evidence establishes the impermissibility of mandatory retirement before age 70, and seek no greater relief than was granted below. Brief for Appellees 76; Tr. of Oral Arg. 23-24.

 The jobs at issue in this ease certainly involve nothing equivalent to the “stress functions” performed by the police officers in Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U. S. 307, 311 (1976). The officers there were required, inter alia, to control prison and civil disorders, respond to emergencies and natural disasters, and apprehend criminal suspects. Id., at 310,

 In addition, a pulmonary specialist testified for appellees:
“While some loss of pulmonary function occurs with age, such loss does not ordinarily advance to the pathological stage where it interferes with the ability to work and otherwise function. Certainly, such normal loss would not impair the ability of an individual to work effectively between the ages of sixty and seventy.” Affidavit of Dr. A. Munzer 2.

 It may in fact be overstatement to refer to a “ [congressional determination” on this issue. The only express evidence that Congress predicated early mandatory retirement on this theory came, during the 1924 debates on the Foreign Service Act, when one Congressman noted the hardships of the transient life and of service in the Tropics. 65 Cong. Rec. 7565. The focus of the debate, however, was on the need for better salaries and retirement provisions in order to attract qualified persons into the Service. And since modes of travel as well as conditions in the Tropics and elsewhere overseas obviously have changed considerably since 1924, reliance on this legislative justification is misplaced. Cf. United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U. S. 144, 153 (1938).
When Congress extended the Foreign Service retirement system to staff *121personnel, it cited the frequent adjustments that the jobs required. However, it did so in the context of recommending that staff personnel be able to enjoy the “advantages” of the retirement system, H. R. Rep. No. 2104, 86th Cong., 2d Sess., 31 (1960), that is, that they be 'permitted to retire at an early age if they so desired. Thus, the 1960 legislative history nowhere reflects an assessment of the competence of these personnel to perform their jobs.
Given the staleness of the only express congressional “determination” before us, and Congress’ failure subsequently to focus on the issue, one may question the appropriateness of the extraordinary deference the Court here affords to congressional factfinding. See ante, at 109-112.

 The Court implies that there is a “close fit” here because it appears “sensible that the Government would take steps to assure itself that not just some, but all, members of the Service have the capability of rendering *122superior performance and satisfying all of the conditions of the Service.” Ante, at 107. Significantly, however, the majority adverts to no evidence suggesting that Congress intended mandatory retirement to serve that objective. In any event, as the Court concedes, ante, at 108, the statute is both overinclusive and underinclusive with respect to this goal. And, as demonstrated infra, this page, the Government has available other more precise means to assure professional competence and physical ability.

 In fact, the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission testified recently:
“Insofar as the general Federal work force is concerned, the removal of the mandatory age 70 provision should have little effect on recruiting younger people. Our experience in recent years has been one of high turnover at the senior levels due to early retirement.” H. R. Rep. No. 95-527, pt. 1, p. 3 (1977).