Home > Great American Court Cases > Gregory v. Ashcroft

Legal Citation: 501 U.S. 452 (1991)

Petitioners
Ellis Gregory, Jr., Anthony P. Nugent, Jr.

Respondent
John D. Ashcroft, Governor of Missouri

Petitioners' Claim
The Missouri Constitution's mandatory retirement provision required retirement of state judges over age 70. Petitioners claimed it violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it irrationally distinguished between old and younger judges, and between state judges and other state officials not subject to the mandatory retirement provision.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioners
Jim J. Shoemaker

Chief Lawyer for Respondent
James B. Deutsch

Justices for the Court
Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter, John Paul Stevens,...