Court Opinion

ID: 9427576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:21:14.005604+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:08.134401
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Blacicmun,
concurring.
My preference in this case would have been to affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals. I am so inclined because I regard the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to be a remedial statute that is to be liberally construed, and because *766I feel that an affirmance would give full recognition to that remedial character. In addition, I could be persuaded that state procedures and remedies in existence at the time the Act was passed in 1967 were not particularly helpful for the complainant and were procedurally frustrating; that the fact that a federal proceeding supersedes one on the state side indicates which is to be dominant; that ADEA proceedings have their analogy in Fair Labor Standards Act litigation and not in Title VII proceedings; that no waiting period is required before a complainant may resort to a federal remedy (whereas, in striking contrast, under Title VII, state jurisdiction is exclusive for 60 days); that one could reasonably regard the statute as affording a complainant the option of filing either on the state side or on the federal side, and the constraints of § 14 (b) as applicable only if he pursues the state remedy; that it seems so needless to require an untimely state filing that inevitably, and automatically, is to be rejected; that the legislative history of the 1978 amendments, see ante, at 758,* while of course not conclusive, might well be regarded, because of its positiveness and clarity, as shedding at least some helpful illumination upon persistent and continuing congressional intent in and since 1967; and that the Government’s participation as amicus curiae on the side of the respondent also affords some indication of the intended interplay of the federal and state legislation.
The Court acknowledges that the “question of construction is close.” Ante, at 755. But this is one of those cases that occasionally appears in the procedural area where it is more important that it be decided (in order to dispel existing conflict, see ante, at 760-761, and n. 7) than that it be decided correctly.
*767Inasmuch as I feel that I can live with the Court’s decision in this case and that, in the long run, justice will not be denied to anyone possessed of a valid claim, I join the Court’s opinion and its judgment.

“[A]n individual who has been discriminated against because of age is free to proceed either under state law or under federal law. The choice is up to the individual.” S. Rep. No. 95-493, p. 7 (1978), adopted in Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of Conference, EL R. Conf. Rep. No. 95-950, pp. 7, 12 (1978).